The Holi festival takes its roots from Hinduism from a tale of an evil King Hiranyakashyipu who got too big for his boots and believed he was god and should be worshipped as such. His son Prahlad was a good soul and believed in the one true god Lord Vishnu. The evil King attempted to kill his son without success. Then the Kings evil sister Holika got involved. Holika had a magical cloak that shielded its wearer from fire. She lured Prahlad to sit on her lap in the middle of a pyre with the intention of letting him burn whilst remaining immune herself. By some twist of fate, the cloak fell from her shoulders and covered Prahlad instead. Holika perished in the flames with the boy emerging unscathed. In a fit of rage King Hiranyakashyipu attempted to assassinate his son until Lord Vishnu ended the evil King instead (source).
This led to the holi festival held on the full moon day of Phagun (12th) month in the Hindu calendar this year on March 23rd (source). They have a bonfire to celebrate good versus evil to symbolise the end of Holika (where the festival derives it's name) and on the next day they would rub the ash on their foreheads, which is a practice still observed by some people (source). Holi got its name 'Festival of Colours' from Lord Krishna, a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, who liked to play pranks on village girls by drenching them in water and colours (source).
This year I decided to give the holi pod a go at Cinnamon Kitchen where for 30 mins you get taste of the holi festival spirit and wallop each other with coloured powder to pumping Indian Beats.
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I really enjoyed finding out a little about this fun, colourful festival and hope to one day travel to India to see it on a grander scale.
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