Holi Festival: What Is It About & Why?

Every 2nd grade Indian Environmental and Visual Studies textbook ever will tell you that Holi is the festival of colours and that it is a festival that is celebrated all over India in more ways than one. Read all about the festival of colours and its significance in this article about Holi! We will tell you how to make this Holi 2020 the best one yet!

Once upon a time, there was an evil King named Hiranyakashyap, who wanted everyone in his kingdom to worship him and him only. Ironically, his son Prahlad, the crown Prince, was extremely pious and became a devotee of Lord Vishnu.

Being as evil as he was, Hiranyakashyap conspired to kill his own son. So he asked his sister Holika, who was immune to fire to walk into a fire with Prahlad on her lap while pretending it was a prayer (Dracarys 100). But Lord Vishnu came to Prahlad’s rescue and Holika burned in that fire. Good won over evil

So, in order to celebrate the death of Holika and the triumph of good over evil, Holi began celebrated throughout India by lighting a bonfire. People throw coloured powder on each other as a form of unity in diversity.

The Modern Day Holi

Now that we’ve gotten the historical context out of the way, let’s get to how awesome Holi is for today’s Indian person. People wear their whitest clothes and head out with packets filled with powders of every colour they can find.

These colours are smeared on everyone including friends and complete strangers to denote that we are all part of something much bigger and that we are united despite our differences. Kids run around with water guns filled with coloured water, waiting to drench their friends.

There is vibrant music, and people dancing to it in euphoria. You will find that people become almost unrecognizable with all the colour that is on their face, and the traces of these colours do take a while to come off, much like hangovers.

Speaking of hangovers, have you heard of Bhang? This is a beverage that is made primarily from the buds, leaves and flowers of the marijuana plant and is primarily sold during Holi. So get your hands on this, as it will be the experience of a lifetime!

Fun with the Fam

As Holi is celebrated throughout the country, it is a national holiday. After a long day of smearing colour on literally everyone you come across, it is nice to go back home and spend the evening with the people you love.

These evenings consist of Holi parties that all your family and friends are invited to and the primary activity in these parties are in fact card games. Desi games such as Andar Bahar, Teen Patti and Jhandi Munda are the best card games for Holi.

The adults stick to these games, while the kids go on to play their own game called Bluff. This one, in our opinion, might just be even more interesting than the games the adults play as it is so much fun to watch people try to lie and fail miserably.

You may be quite used to playing these card games in Indian online casinos, but we will let you in on a secret: playing the very same games in real life with your family is something else.

Don’t get us wrong, playing at online casinos is amazing. You will also be interested to know that there are some exciting promotional offers that online casinos come up with during this festival. So if you can’t go home, don’t worry!

All your homesickness will be washed away if you play these wonderful card games at your favourite Indian online casino! Happy Holi, everyone! May this year be another one of those years where good triumphs evil.

Disclaimer: This article is part of a partnered content series