Holi is a renowned festival in Nepal, which is known as the festival of colors. It is celebrated on the full moon day (purnima) that mostly lies in the month of March according to the Nepali calendar. It is celebrated for 2 days in Nepal, the first day in the hilly territory and the second day on the plain land region of terai that is close to the Indian border. During this festival, people throw different colors to each other by gathering in a park, streets and squares. They cheer up with the rallies and the local people throw colors and water to the cheering crowd.
Tourists find celebrating holi festival a wonderful thing to do if they are in Nepal, especially in the touristic region. Thamel and Kathmandu Durbar Square premises are the major towns where the tourists gather in crowds and enjoy their day. Holi in Kathmandu Durbar Square is a combining ceremony of spreading the colors between the locals and the foreigners. There are also the famous towns like Pokhara and Chitwan, where tourists find their appropriate spots to celebrate.
The History and Mythology of the Holi Festival
If we want to know about the Holi festival, we need to switch on the era of “Mahabharata”, which is a renowned epic tale in India, read by the Hindu devotees. It is a festival that indicates the victory of the virtues and the death of the vices. According to the Hindu mythologies, King Hiranyakashyipu was against of worshipping Lord Visnu and did not allow anybody to worship Him, or let’s say, he was highly arrogant on worshipping Lord Visnu. Unlike, prince Prahlad was a highly dedicated devotee of Lord Visnu. Hiranyakashipu, being enraged, commanded his sister Holika to burn the prince on the full moon night. With the miraculous blessings of Lord Visnu, the prince was unscathed, but Holika was burnt into ashes. After this, the prince got a new life remaining unharmed, walked out of the fire and people sprinkled him with the colors and waters to praise his honesty and holy devotion to Lord Visnu. Thus, the festival is aptly celebrated as the celebration of goodness and the hatred of the evil acts.
