Date, meaning behind Hindu Festival of Holi and how it's celebrated in India

Holi has to be one of the most internationally famous Hindu festivals.

Images of vast crowds throwing coloured powder into the air reflect the joyousness the occasion brings.

But what is it about and how is it celebrated? Here’s everything you need to know.

Holi is the the festival of love, the festival of colours and the festival of spring.

It is a Hindu holiday, and it celebrates the eternal love of Radha Krishna, who represents the feminine and masculine forms of God, as well as the triumph of good over evil.

It is a happy festival, one marking the arrival of the abundance of spring and the end of a long winter.

It is thought to be a day for reconciliation with loved ones, friends and family, and to forget past problems to celebrate togetherness.

The festival is linked to quite a few different Hindu legends, although the overwhelming theme is the triumph of good.

One of the most popular stories describes the pastimes of the Hindu deity Krishna when he was in Vrindavan, northern India.

He would get into lots of mischief, play-acting, stealing butter from cowherd girls and entertaining everyone he met.

Sometimes he played coloured water games with his milkmaid friends, spreading joy and love and dispelling greed and anger.

The story teaches us about love in its most sublime form, where there is no selfishness, greed, envy or anger.

The Encyclopedia Brittanica says: “Holi is particularly enjoyed by worshippers of the god Krishna.

“Its general frivolity is considered to be in imitation of Krishna’s play with the gopis (wives and daughters of cowherds).

“In Vraja (modern Gokul, [near Agra]), rituals of reversal culminate in a battle in which the women of the natal village of Radha, Krishna’s eternally devoted lover, pummel the men of Krishna’s village with staves; the men defend themselves with shields.”

This year Holi falls on Friday 18 March. It is a national holiday in India and Nepal.

In the Hindu lunisolar calendar it takes place in the month of Phalguna on the last full moon day (Purnima).

The first evening is called Holika Dahan, or Chhoti Holi, where friends and families gather around a bonfire to celebrate the victory of good over evil and pray that this victory will be mirrored inside of them, so any internal evil is destroyed.

The next day is called Holi, or Rangwali Holi.

In India, Nepal and around the world, Hindus mark the festival by playing with colours and lighting bonfires.

Holi gained fame internationally for its custom of throwing coloured powder into the air and over another person.

The Encyclopedia Brittanica says:  “Participants throw coloured water and powders on one another, and, on this one day only, license is given for the usual rankings of caste, gender, status, and age to be reversed. 

“In the streets the celebrations are often marked by ribald language and behaviour, but at its conclusion, when everyone bathes, dons clean white clothes, and visits friends, teachers, and relatives, the ordered patterns of society are reasserted and renewed.

“In many locales, celebrants kindle an early morning bonfire that represents the burning of the demoness Holika (or Holi), who was enlisted by her brother, Hiranyakashipu, in his attempt to kill his son Prahlada because of the latter’s unshakable devotion to Vishnu.

“The burning of Holika prompts worshippers to remember how Vishnu (in the form of a lion-man, Narasimha) attacked and killed Hiranyakashipu, vindicating both Prahlada and Vishnu.”