Holi: The Festival of Colors

Rituals and Customs :

Holi is spread out over two days (it used to be five, and in some places it is longer).On the evening of the first day of Holi, a public bonfire is held, commemorating the burning of Holika. Traditionally, Hindu boys spend the weeks prior to Holi combing the neighborhood for any waste wood they can find for the bonfire. The fire is lit sometime between 10 PM and midnight (at the rising of the moon), not generally in an orderly fashion. Everyone gathers in the street for the event, and the air rings with shouts, catcalls, curses and general mayhem.

Mythological Significance :

Hiranyakashipu was the king of demons, and he had been granted a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed 'during day or night; inside the home or outside; not on earth or on sky, neither by a man nor an animal'. Consequently, he grew arrogant, and attacked the Heavens and Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping gods and start praying to him. But his own son, Prahlad, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlad continued offering prayers to Lord Vishnu.

He was poisoned but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and still survived.When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as the shawl flew from Holika, who, then was burnt to death, while Prahlad survived without a scar to show for it, after the shawl moved on to cover him. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.

Regional Celebrations :

Each area celebrates Holi differently; the Bhil tribesmen of western Madhya Pradesh, who've retained many of their pre-Hindu customs, celebrate holi in a unique way. In rural Maharashtra State, where the festival is known as Rangapanchami it is celebrated with dancing and singing. In the towns of Rajasthan especially Jaisalmer the music's great, and clouds of pink, green, and turquoise powder fill the air. The grounds of Jaisalmer's Mandir Palace are turned into chaos, with dances, folk songs, and colored-powder confusion.

Good Things To Know About The Caribana Festival

The city of Toronto in Ontario, Canada is the annual host of a festival dedicated to the Caribbean culture and traditions, called Caribana. Every summer, this Carnival-style event on the lakeshore of Toronto gathers hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world. It is quite obvious why it has slowly become North America's largest street festival. It is being held in Toronto from mid-July until the first week of August.

The Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) is the nonprofit organization that runs most of the events during the Caribana Festival. The over 1 million people that visit Toronto during the events bring in over $300 million to the Canadian economy.

The main event is a big street parade, that gathers costumed dancers and live Caribbean music.

Let us linger a bit upon these mysterious styles that the Caribbean music charmes us with.

I shall start with Calypso, or Kaiso, a distant relative of Jazz, Blues, Dub and Rap. Calypso is the one to express an opinion about everyday life. Being a combination of Soul and Calypso, Soca is the most familiar Carnival party music, that has a more recent variant: Rapso, made up of Dub, Rap and Calypso.

Born from the celebration of the emancipation by the freed slaves in Trinidad, Canboulay stands for the commemorated times of fire in the canefields.

The Steel Pan style has evolved from the only new acoustic musical
Instrument that Trinidad and Tobago gave the 20th century.

The Caribana has its King and Queen of the Bands Competition, as each theme group in the parade is a "band" that consists of a live
musical group and masqueraders in costumes that play a certain role in the scene. This is what "Mas" player stands for. One of the most interesting things in the carnival is the painted devil costume, called "Jab", from the French diable.

Since Trinidad and Tobago have decided to meet the efforts of Toronto regarding the Caribana Festival, numerous industries and sectors benefit from the collaboration: Toronto's tourism product, the hotels, airlines, transport services and caterers, not to speak about the business community in Toronto.