Braj Holi : A Festival of Colours
A Spring Festival in India
Holi, The Festival of Colours, is an annual religious event celebrated in the land of God Krishna, called Braj. The district of Mathura, hosts this festival which lasts for over a week across various villages in Mathura-Vrindavan.
Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (or Falgun) in locations connected to the Lord Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana apart from a few others.
The main day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, (also Dhulheti/Dhulandi/Dhulendi), is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and teshu flower coloured water at each other.
Nothing prepares you for the assault on your senses that is Braj ki holi. Colour and chaos reigns everywhere. Celebrations can last for more than two weeks. A thick haze of gulaal covers everyone and everything and the air is sweetened by the smell of bhang and mithai. The constantly high noise levels are a mish-mash of devotional songs and laughter. Then there customs and traditions that are followed only in Krishna's birthplace like lathmar holi where women, having prepared for this for a month, chase away men with long sticks or lathis. Or the kapra phar holi in Mathura, where married woman tear away the men/s clothes while they pass through to avenge the mimicry of a playful tease of unmarried women in their receptive villages - some devoted to Radha (Lord Krishna playmate and friend), some to Krishna himself.
A show of fun, love and equality, preserved in time.