Happy Holi!

Rango ke tyohar me sabhi rango ki ho bharmar,dDher saari khushiyo se bhara ho aapka sansar, yahi dua hai Bhagwan se hamari har bar, holi mubarak!

Holi: The Festival of Colours

Holi as we play here in Delhi is a little different from the one we have in Manipur.

Holi in Manipur (my home state) is known as ‘Yaoshang’. It continues for six days starting on the full moon day of ‘Phairel/Lamda’ (February/ March). Thatched huts of hay, twigs and sticks are built in the afternoon to perform puja. Later in the evening the hut is set ablaze at the very first sight of the full moon, which announces the start of the Yaoshang festival.

Then little children in colourful attire go to the neighbourhood and to their relatives for ‘alms’ (known as ‘Naktheng Khaiba’). I have vivid memories of those days. We sometimes got Bidis and Cigarettes! instead of money. Getting around 150 to 200 Rupees was considered a good sum at that time. From that money boys buy powders, colours and Pichkaris (water pistols). Girls open their own “stall” of eateries from that money. Then the boys make groups and play colour with the girls. Girls extract money from the boys for playing colous with them.

Sometimes bigger/elder girls snatch shoes jackets from us and did not return it until we emptied watever we had in the pocket. We even got thrashing from the bigger girls.

A special Manipuri dance, called ‘Thabal Chongba‘ is also associated with this festival where boys and girls hold hands and dance in a circle. Thabal, means moonlight and Chongba means dance. Though earlier only drum or dholak, was allowed to be used for this special dance, now modern musical instruments are also used. This dance is performed on all six-days in every locality and gives a chance to the young boys and girls to meet.

Picture Source: Getty Images

Tags: Festival, Holi, Yaoshang