Mythological Origins of Holi Festival
Festivals are important almost for every society as this helps to maintain the bonding between the people and also have many positive impacts on global mobility. Due to various festival and event, it has a significant impact over the tourism sector. This helps the community to develop and also to have a mobility. In this paper the discussion will be on the festival Holi, which is known as a festival of colors within the religion Hindu. This can be observed in the country. The discussion on Holi will help to know about various and different characteristics of this festival. The impact of Holi in the Indian society for its global mobility and tourism sector is important. This paper will help to describe about the Holi festival and its impact over the society and tourism.
Holi is a popular and ancient Hindu Festival, which is also known as ‘Festival of Colors’ or the ‘Festival of Love’ (BBC, 2022). This festival is based on the country India and it is a two days festival. This festival of color symbolizes love, life and passion. Holi is believed to emerge before birth of Christ (TNN, 2017). According to the mythology, this can be estimate that this festival started the during the time of 4th century, during the region of Chandragupta II, as it is mentioned in the Puranas, Dharma Charita and by the poet Kalidas. The mythological story of Holi, described that this festival is also known as Holika. This ancient festival of India, and the mythological story of it described the importance of Holi to perform, as this ritual helps to eliminate the evil from the society. By removing the evil spirit, it reconstructs the good power over the evil power. From the ancient time onwards, Holi is that festival with the main concept of beating the evil away by establishing good power in the society. This used to be a ritual performed by the married women for the well-being of their family by worshipping the full moon, “Raka”. Also, this festival is known as “Basanta Utsav” and “Dol-Purnima” in Bengali community, as they celebrate this ritual by praying to establish good power over the evil and to start a Bengali New Year. Among the Bengali community this is very popular as this signifies the colors of Holi as the color of love. The tale between the Radha and Krishan helped to popularize the significance of this story (Gonzalez, n.d.). This festival signifies the colors through the ages and history and became popular across the world.
The people who live in Punjab, a state of India, which has one of the richest and oldest culture of the world. Sikh is sect of original religion Hindu community, which was founded by the Guru Nanak. He became a preacher at the time of Babar’s invasion in Punjab only (McLeod, 2020). Punjabi Sikh follows the culture of Punjab and they speak Punjabi, which is also known as Indo-Aryan language (Shackle, 2017). They celebrated different and many religious functions such as Dussehra, Holi, Diwali and many more. In Punjabi culture, bhangra and jhumar is specially known to every people. They express their happiness through dance which is a traditional folk-dance form. This culture is also associated with Sikh religious music, gazals, qawwali and thumri. Many poets and singers are from Punjab, which make the culture very rich. Punjabi poetry and literature are famous. They follow their customs which says that guests are the representative of God, which is why they treat and looked after their guest very well. Punjabi culture has a very famous cuisine for which they are well known not only India, but also in different parts of the world. “Sarso ka saag” and “Makki di roti” are the example of their well-known dishes. The economy system is predominantly based on agriculture. Dairy products, pulses, vegetables are mainly based on Punjab’s agricultural system. Though they have remained in agriculture for a very long time, but now they are also in trade and commerce (Jain, n.d.). Historically, due to Mughal culture, they have some recipes which came from Mughal era (Punjab.gov, 2021). Punjabis are very particular about theory customs and values which they follow strictly. Every festival and ceremony have some rituals and they follow those rituals very religiously. This maintenance of traditional rituals makes their bond stronger and helps to maintain their social cordiality and cohesion. They are known as the high-spirited people of India, and the people who celebrate almost every event and festivals with happiness. Their lively and vibrant culture attracts other community. Nowadays, many people from Punjab shifted from their state to another state or country because of their work, but also, they religiously maintain their customs and values and celebrate their festivals. Because of the strong and colorful culture Punjab have become a place for tourism (Jain, n.d.).
Significance of Holi as an Ancient Hindu Festival
Indian culture is one of the oldest and culture in the world, which can be track back 4,500 years ago. According to the All World Gayatri Pariwar Organization, (AWGP), India has the first and supreme culture in this world, which is described as “Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara”. According to the Anthropologist Christian De Rossi, Western countries did not always see the culture of India favorably. Furthermore, Indian’s rich heritage and cultural value make India as a place of tourism and attracts many people from all over the world. India makes significant architectures, they have rich culture of literature and art. Also, the invention of zero, ‘0’, and Ayurveda make their mark in the society and in this world. It is a very diverse country with different religion and culture. Every culture and tradition have different customs and values. But above all as a country they have significant and important cultural values and tradition, which help to maintain the diversity of this country (Zimmerman, n.d.).
Holi is a spring festival of India. This festival aims for promote happiness and to play Holi without discriminating between the people and their cultural background as Holi is meant for elimination of evil power and establishment of good power (Volunteer forever, 2019). Thus, in this festival every person welcomes each other. Recently, Holi becomes very popular for which this can be observed that the business in tourism gets at the time of Holi. As many people from different places and countries visit India’s many profitable places along with Punjab, Jaipur to observe and to be part of this colorful festival (STR, 2020). During the festival the hotels have earned profits as this festival attracts and welcome every people from different cultural background. Jaipur is becoming a popular tourists’ destination at the time of Holi. Different culture people play Holi and welcomes people happily. According to the culture of Punjab they welcome guest as the representative of God, which attracts more and the rich tradition of this culture attracts people to come and visit this place and the time of festival of colors. The similarities between the other part of India with Punjab during the Holi are both the culture follows the cultural value of Holi and maintain this celebration religiously and remain happy and spread happiness without discriminating between the society and with the people. However, this festival has become popular and also at the same time this is being commercialized and materialized because of the profit of tourism sector. Though this festival has become commercialized, but also, the fun-filled festival spread happiness and give a homely feeling and help to knit the people and to maintain the strong bonding of humanity. The essence of this festival spread over other countries also because of the Indian resident, which repair the broken relationship and promotes happiness between the human society and mankind (Wang, 2018).
Tourism brings positive impact over the economy of Indian society. Indian rich culture and festival help tourism sector to grow more and to attracts the people from all over the country to visit, which eventually help to increase the economy of the country. Festivals are very important in human history. In recent years, festivals turned out as a center to promote tourism, this gives an opportunity to interact with the local people and to gain knowledges about the local community member. Though, the traditional meaning of festival, Holi, has changed but the essence of this festival remains same (Prezi, 2022). Hospitality and tourism not only help to increase the economy of the country but also it helps to promote global mobility. Because of the commercialization of the festival and taking advantages of the festival to attract tourist, this loss the main and historical essence of it (Prezi, 2022). Due to this festival Holi, the people from different society, culture and community from across the countries come together in one place, which helps to maintain the humanity and the bonding between the individuals. Festivals and Indian customs, traditions are unique and which have diverse culture. This diversity of culture can be observed during the time of Holi, as it is celebrated among the people without any discrimination. People from every religion celebrates this festival. This festival promotes equality, and which attracts the people from other countries (TOI, 2015). The uniqueness and diverse nature of this festival gives opportunity to tourism sector and to promote global mobility. Holi is considered as the ‘La Tomatina’ festival of India.
Conclusion:
However, from the above discussion, this can be suggested that, India has diverse and unique culture and traditional values associated to it. Among every culture, Punjab has very long history and customs which they follow religiously. This beliefs and values help to maintain the community bonding and thus, the power of humanity spread through the happiness of different festivals. Holi helps to bring people together and establish happiness in the society which also helps for global mobility. Recently, Holi, this festival became popular in the other countries of the world as it attracts people because of the happiness and enjoyment which is associated with it. This attraction and popularity of this festival of color not only helps the human society to create a strong bond, but also it helps the country for the development of economy with the help of tourism sector and to promote global mobility.
References:
BBC. (2022). What is Holi?. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zh86n39/articles/z4qqy9q
Gonzalez, N. (Invalid Date). Holi: Festival of Colors. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/holi-festival-of-colors
Jain, V. Punjabi Culture | Traditions, Food, Dance, Art Forms & More. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.holidify.com/pages/punjabi-culture-116.html
McLeod, W. Hewat (2020, June 1). Sikhism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikhism
Prezi. (2022). Festival Tourism – Holi. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://prezi.com/ihwxqpsmavrw/festival-tourism-holi/?frame=d1ca43604925e8dad64c4c6a6755387c0bca4d9c
Punjab.gov. (2021). Culture – Government of Punjab, India. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://punjab.gov.in/culture/
Shackle, C. (2017, July 27). Punjabi language. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Punjabi-language
STR. (2020). How Holi and Diwali impact India hotel performance. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://str.com/data-insights-blog/how-holi-and-diwali-impact-india-hotel-performance
TNN. (2017). Holi festival: History – Times of India. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/events/holi-festival-history/articleshow/57589584.cms
TOI. (2015). Holi to be promoted by hoteliers among international tourists | Mumbai News – Times of India. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/holi-to-be-promoted-by-hoteliers-among-international-tourists/articleshow/46459422.cms
Volunteer Forever. (2019). What is Holi Festival and Why is it Celebrated? | Volunteer Forever. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.volunteerforever.com/article_post/what-is-holi-festival-and-why-is-it-celebrated/
Wang, M. (2018). Holi festival brings people together in a colorful way. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.iowastatedaily.com/app_content/holi-festival-brings-people-together-in-a-colorful-way/article_847ecb02-45a0-11e8-93d6-f73c8242b91c.html
Zimmermann, K. Indian Culture: Traditions and Customs of India. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.livescience.com/28634-indian-culture.html
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