Holi Festival Celebrated with Zeal in Nepal's Hills and Mountains

Kathmandu. The Fagu Purnima, or Holi festival, is being celebrated today with great enthusiasm in the Himalayan and hilly districts through the exchange of colors and water balloons.

The Fagu festival, which arrives with the advent of spring, carrying a message of mutual harmony and goodwill, is an ancient tradition. While this festival was celebrated in a rather boisterous manner in the Kathmandu Valley a few years ago, it has recently started becoming more civilized due to the active role of the police.

On the occasion of this festival, people gathered at Basantapur in Kathmandu today colorfully decorate the environment, formally take down the 'Chir' (a wooden pole) erected there, and carry it with musical accompaniment to Tundikhel to be burned. People scramble to take the flags and banners placed on the 'Chir,' believing they have medicinal properties, and apply the ash from the 'Chir' as a mark on their foreheads, believing it wards off misfortune.

The Fagu celebrations begin after the 'Chir' is decorated with colorful flags and worshipped at the front of the Gaddhi Baithak in Basantapur on the eighth day of Fagun Shukla. On the same night, a demon named 'Gurumapa' is brought from Itumbahal without being stopped anywhere, fed rice made from ten pathis of grain and the meat of a buffalo, and then ritually cleansed at the 'Jadhu' spring inside the Military Hospital.

This festival is associated with the story from the Treta Yuga where the demon king Hiranyakashipu, intending to kill his son Prahlad, a devotee of Vishnu, instructed his sister Holika, who had received a boon from Brahma that fire could not harm her, to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad. Holika was consumed by the fire herself, but the devotee Prahlad remained unharmed. It is believed that the tradition of playing Holi (Fagu) started to commemorate the demise of Holika, who symbolized the sinful tendency of misusing power.

Similarly, in the Dwapara Yuga, the demoness Putana, sent by Kansa to kill Lord Krishna, was killed when she failed in her attempt to breastfeed him with her poisoned breasts. Religious scholars and former chairman of the Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Development Committee, Prof. Toyaraj Nepal, informed RSS that there is a tradition mentioned in religious texts of the people of Braj burning her and celebrating the Fagu festival.

Dr. Vansdeep Sharma Kharel, Chief of the Ayurveda Promotion Branch at the Department of Ayurveda and Alternative Medicine, states that playing Fagu with well-prepared colors and 'abir' (colored powder) helps cure skin diseases, and the use of such colors destroys the 'kapha' (phlegm) generated in the body during winter. He also mentions that the smoke from the burned 'Chir' eradicates germs causing various winter ailments, thus giving the festival Ayurvedic significance.

The government has traditionally declared a public holiday on the occasion of the Fagu festival. However, in the Terai region, this festival is celebrated the day after the full moon. This year, Holi is being celebrated in the Terai on Tuesday, and the government has declared a public holiday in the Terai districts on Tuesday as well.

On the occasion of this festival, there is a decreasing trend in vices such as fighting after consuming intoxicants for fun, using chemical substances harmful to the body, and throwing water balloons at vehicles.

During this festival, the Thakali community dresses in colorful attire and gathers with family for an arrow-throwing competition. During this seven-day festival, relatives gather every day to eat delicious food and have fun.

How is the Festival of Colors Celebrated in Different Countries?

The Fagu festival is celebrated in a unique manner in Nepal, India, and other countries. In Italy, it is celebrated under the name 'Beliacones,' where people spray scented water on each other and play wearing special colorful ornaments made of grass. In China, this festival is celebrated for 15 days under the name 'Chuej,' where people wear new clothes and jewelry.

In America, this festival, celebrated under the name 'Hobo,' involves people dressing up in various humorous costumes and organizing competitions where winners are awarded prizes.

Similarly, in Sri Lanka and Java in Indonesia, the festival is celebrated by worshipping fire; in Myanmar and Thailand, by worshipping water; by offering alms to monks in Buddhist temples; in Japan and Sumatra in Indonesia, by welcoming the new harvest with singing and dancing; in Yunnan, China, by worshipping the god Dionysus with dancing; and in Egypt, through humor, jokes, and dancing.

Although celebrated under different names, the tradition of playing with colors is found in many countries. Everywhere, the main objective of celebrating this festival is found to be promoting mutual harmony and social unity.