As Few Villagers Ignore Holi Festivities Due To Curse By The Goddess
PHOTO: international and local students during Holi celebration
By Kaipee Luther Newray, newraykaipee@gmail.com
DEHRADUN, India- Liberians and other African students attending Graphic Era University (GEU) in India on March 8, 2023 joined their Indian counterparts in observance of Holi, one of the most popular and significant Hinduism festivals.
Several local and international students celebrating the Holi festival were seen dancing Hindi music, singing folk songs of Holi, pouring colors and throwing of water balloons on known or unknown people.
They also expressed love by hugging each other and blessing to their friends and supporters during the official Holi festivity held at Graphic Era University campus in Dehradun.
The festival of colors (Holi) which covered international students in many shades, is celebrated to depict the victory of good over evil, the celebration of divine love of Radha Krishna and the arrival of spring.
To celebrate this occasion, a day before Holi at night a structure of wood is standing up and is burnt showing the victory of good over evil.
Shivani Bisht, a Masters of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication (MA-JMC), super senior student of the Graphic Hill University said that Holi has always been about colors, dance and food.
“Since childhood, we would celebrate it with our neighbors and family by dancing together and eating chips and fruits. Elders would make groups of male and female and take rounds along the streets going from home to home,” she added.
She added: “There is a saying in Holi, Bura na maano, Holi hai! Which in English is translated as don’t get upset because it’s Holi.”
Usually, it is said that every sour relationship is mended during Holi.
Makhala Angelina Jobere, a Lesotho national, participated in her first Holi festival in India with excitement, saying that he was happy about the program.
Holi is a great celebration, it brings people together and remove them from their comfort zone, the Lesotho student said.
“From the festival, I learnt that we are all equal, like now our skin color is the same, no African no Indian.”
Story behind Holi:
There was a boy named Prahalad, he was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, but his father hated this fact.
So he asked his sister Holika, who was given the boon that she will not die in a fire.
Hence, Holika sat down with Prahalad (the boy) in her lap, with wood around her and then the fire was lit.
Because Prahalad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, Vishnu Ji saved the kid from fire and Holika got burnt at the same time.
Another story has it that since Lord Krishna was dark in color, his love Radha was very fair.
Krishna was very naughty and would do acts to tease the girls of his village, so once he colored Radha’s face along with other girls.
Despite Holi is celebrated all over the country, there are few remote villages in the Uttarakhand do not celebrate to date due to what they called, a curse by an ancient goddess.
Malla Ghorpatta, Talla Ghorpatta, Papri, Pakauti, Barniagaon, and Harkot are a few villages Holi is banned.
Some of the locals believe that the Goddess does not look like noise and colors and if anyone tries to celebrate the festival, they suffer due to a curse given 400 years ago by the goddess.