Why Do We Celebrate Holi, Really?
“Anything goes” can make you feel delighted or alarmed
Holi is the Hindu festival of colours and Spring. North India celebrates it with fervour, while South India gives it a miss. The North has cold winters, and a hot spring/summer, while the south is hot almost throughout the year. So the winter-to-summer transition festival is not celebrated down south.
Holi — A Northern India Festival
Holi’s a northern India festival. North India has a proper winter and a hot summer.
My husband’s brother’s wife, a North-Indian herself, once jokingly remarked that all the lazy people who have been afraid of the cold water during the winter are deliberately smeared with color on Holi so that they are forced to take baths. This is only half in jest because access to warm water in the winter isn’t universal.
As a South Indian brought up in North India, I’ve had a mixed experience with Holi. My parents simply hated the festival, and it wasn’t until I was in college that I realized why exactly they hated it so much. “Festival of colors and spring” – what’s not to like?
Plenty.
