An Indian Festival (Holi)

1. Introduction – India is famous for festivals. There are many festival in India as rakshabandhan, Dashahara, diwali, holi, Id, Christmas etc, Holi is one of the most important restivals of the Hindus.
2. When and why this festival is celebrated – This festival is celebrated in the month of March in the memory of Bhakta Prahlad. It is said that Prahlad’s fathers Hiranyakashyapa was proud of himself. He did not believe in God. But prahlad’s faith in God was very firm. So Hiranyakashyapa was angry with Prahlad. One day he asked his sister Holika to jump into burning fire with Prahlad. He thought that Holika was incombustible so she would not burn and Prahlad would burn to ashes. But Holika got burnt in the fire and Prahlad was safe. So people celebrated this festival in his memory.
3.  How this festival is celebrated – on the day of Holi, people collect wood in heaps at different palaces. At night. They put fire into those heaps of wood. They make round of them and sings hymns. Then distribute sweets. Next day they sprinkte coloured water upon one another and dance and sing with joy. They embrace one another.
   
4.  Its advantages – This festival is a festival of enjoyment. It brings oneness and a new spirit among the people. This festival has a great social importance because the shackles of caste and creed are broken and the ideas of high or low, rich or poor are forgotten.
   
5. Its disadvantages – Some people drink and abuse others. Sometimes there are quarrels among some groups of people. Even, sometimes, there are murders and the joy changes into sadness. Trees are cut and a lot of wood is burnt uselessly. At times people besmear ugly paints on other’s faces. It makes them unhappy.
   
6. Conclusion – we should celebrate this festival in a proper and very simple way. Only one or two heaps of wood should be burnt in a city or village. It will save the wastage of thousands of tons of wood which is a great need of the poor. Besides this, not a single green tree should be cut to celebrate this festival.