The Holi Color Festival of India

People dancing in the streets, colourful powders in the air and especially lots of bright colours. You’ve probably seen it before… The Holi Color Festival in India. It’s obvious that this is a happy tradition, but what exactly is being celebrated here? You can read that in this post!

Good vs. evil
The Holi festival, also called Holi Phagwa or Phaguá, is an Hindu festival and originates from India. It is an annual festival and it’s celebrated in the month of Phagun (March). It always starts on the evening of the full moon in that month, which is why the celebration starts on a different date every year.

The tradition is known as a combination of a Spring and New Year celebration. Many different things are celebrated such as the victory of good over evil, the beginning of spring, the new year and the good harvest.

Colourful celebration
On the evening of the full moon, fires are lit all over India. This symbolizes the burning of evil. People burn old stuff and clothes and believe that the bad feelings and thoughts will disappear. People sing and dance around the fires and this is the beginning of Holi. The next day they put a little bit of this ash on their foreheads and wish each other a Happy New Year. Then the colourful celebration begins.

Almost everyone is outside. It’s normal to throw coloured powders and cologne at each other. The powders are available on the street. The colours symbolize the flourishing nature and humans are also a part of that. Young people in particular play pranks on each other and shoot at each other with water pistols. Very special is that during Holi all differences disappear. India is normally a country with separate populations and during Holi this isn’t noticed at all. There is no longer a difference between young and old, man and woman or rich and poor. Tourists are also very welcome during the celebration. Just keep in mind that you will certainly not be spared by the locals ...

Holi worldwide
Holi is an huge celebration in all parts of India. In addition, more than a billion Hindus annually celebrate the festival worldwide. Hindus all over the world live and celebrate their traditions. For example, we see that different kinds of the Holi Colour Festival are also being created and celebrated in Europe. Despite that, India is still a very popular destination during the Holi festival. Within India, Holi is celebrated a little bit less in the south. The big cities in the north and west are especially popular during the celebration. For example: Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur.

Photography trip Rajasthan North-India

During the photography tour we travel through Rajasthan, a state in North India. The Holi Colour Festival is very popular in this state and it gets celebrated in a big way. Therefore it’s not to be missed during the tour. Prepare for an unforgettable and colourful experience on this photography tour.

Is a photography trip also on your bucket list? Then check out the package of photo trips and tours. Or read about the different destinations in one of the blogWould you rather photograph in the Netherlands? That is also possible! Feel free to check out the various   photography workshops