Hindus Celebrate
p. 88 · Read in the full issue
Squirts of Coloured Water Hindus Celebrate Festival of Holi
By S. M. Mudaliar, in Suva
Hindus in Fiji on March 6 as in India and elsewhere —celebrated their national festival of Holi, or the festival of Spring.
THERE are about 70 different Hindu festivals, but Holi has been acclaimed the most popu lar. It is the festival of the people and there is a holiday atmosphere during the days of the festival.
Nowadays Holi has become more closely associated with the lower classes than the upper, and cele brated with particular gaiety by the countryfolk.
The most interesting feature of this festival is the squirting of coloured water. The usual rules of decorum are relaxed and rejoicing crowds equipped with sprays take over; neither friend nor relative, old nor young, male nor female, is spared the sprays of coloured water.
Children parade the streets with syringes and bottles and threaten to discolour the clothes of passersby, who are, however, allowed to go unmolested on payment of a small sum.
In the evening, families get to gether and enjoy a variety of special dishes.
Primitive Origins
Holi is originally a festival of fertility, which has its origin in the primitive orgies of the ancient and powerful tribes of India. Even now it retains many of the character istics of the fertility festivities.
Holi is also appropriately con nected with some of the activities of Lord Sri Krishna (an incarna tion of God to Hindus), Effigies of Putana, a female demon whom the child Krishna killed, are made and destroyed on that day.
Southern Indians celebrate this festival by gathering round huge bonfires and singing folk-songs in lamentation of Rati, wife of Kama !£ e iove-god, on the destruction of the latter by Lord Shiva whose asceticism Kama disturbed Another interesting Holi obser vance celebrates the death of ogress Hohka, sister of a demon king Haranakush, who challenged the child Prahalad (a devotee of the God Vishnu) to a fire bath in order ™ P ut u hlm J° death - but o g re ss heiself was burnt to ashes This tradition is closely followed dnrf™ n f?- ji 5 y . man y Hindus, and during this festival bonfires may fL^ en - andcc r owds gathered around them singing m joyful mood.