Story Book Research
Festivals and Holidays:
Holi -
- festival of colors
- celebrates good over evil
- originated in India, but due to people moving, has spread across the world
- the festival lasts a night and a day, and starts on the night of a full moon and continues into the following day
- The night Holi stars, people gather around a bonfire and perform religious rituals that are meant to cleanse the body of all evil.
- the morning after, people celebrate by throwing color stained powders at each other and wear colorful outfits. Friends, enemies, man, woman, children, everyone participates in the color fights, which makes for quite the aesthetic.
- People celebrate with certain intoxicants, one being a drink that originates from cannabis, which leads to quite the jolly time
- after the day is over, families and relatives get together and enjoy the night with each others presence.
- Krishna
- The history of Holi can be dated back to Krishna. When Krishna was a baby, he had been poisoned by drinking the breast milk of a demon named Putana. After drinking this, his skin color had gone dark. Krishna wanted to be with the goddess Radha, but feared she would not like him due to his skin color. Krishna's mother got fed up, and told Radha to color Krishna's face with whatever color she pleased. She did so, and after that they had fallen in love. This is why people across the globe today celebrate Holi by throwing colored powder at each other.
Rama Navani -
- this holiday celebrates the birth of Rama, the incarnation of Vishnu
- celebrated by people reading The Ramayana and telling the tales of Rama
- some celebrate by going to Temples, others celebrate in their homes
- some people celebrate by playing music with their families
- others celebrate by decorating small sculptures of Rama and then placing them in cradles
- it celebrates the establishment of the Dharma
- the good over evil
Ganesh Chaturthi -
- celebrates the arrival of Hindu Deity Ganesh to earth
- clay idols are placed around homes, and in public places
- chanting of Hindu texts and rituals, lasts 10 days
- some people fast, while others indulge in sweets
- in Mumbai alone there are about 150,000 statues that appear in the ten day span of the holiday
- on the 10th day of the holiday, a massive clay statue of Ganesh is taken to a nearby body of water, either a river or a sea, and is placed in it. The statue starts to dissolve, and signifies Ganesh's return to Mount Kailash
- the holiday signifies new beginnings, and the overcoming of obstacles.
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