38 Fun Facts About Holi

Which season does Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, welcome?

Spring: Holi marks the end of winter, and for the day the usual rules of caste, class and age are set aside as everyone throws colour at everyone.

What does the Holi saying 'Bura na mano, Holi hai' mean?

Don't be offended, it's Holi: people say it after drenching someone, since during the festival friends and even strangers are fair game for colour.

Holi begins on the evening of the full moon in which month of the Hindu calendar?

Phalguna's full moon is when Holi's bonfires are lit, and the throwing of coloured powder and water follows the next morning.

What is the bonfire ceremony held the night before Holi called?

Holika Dahan, 'Holika's burning', sees people throw wood, grain or chickpeas into the bonfire as a way of letting go of negativity.

Which boy devotee of Vishnu survived after his fire-immune aunt sat with him in a blazing fire?

Prahlada kept praying to Vishnu and walked out unharmed while his aunt burned; tellings differ on why, from her fireproof shawl blowing onto him to her power simply failing.

Which demon king, the father of Vishnu's boy devotee, was killed by the god in the form of the man-lion Narasimha?

Hiranyakashipu hated Vishnu, who had killed his brother, so he tried again and again to have his own Vishnu-worshipping son put to death.

Narasimha got around a demon king's boon by killing him at which time of day?

At dusk, neither day nor night: the boon also barred death indoors or outdoors, so Narasimha held the king on his lap on a doorstep and killed him with his claws.

What are the syringe-like squirters Holi revellers fill with coloured water called?

Pichkaris let revellers drench anyone in range, even passing strangers, while others lob balloons filled with coloured water.

Why did the young Krishna worry that Radha would not like him?

Because of his dark skin colour: in one legend his mother Yashoda playfully suggested colouring faces, and the couple's game is said to have begun Holi's colour play.

Which puranic work by a sage was the first to describe the divine couple playing Holi?

The festival itself is mentioned in the Narada and Bhavishya Puranas and by the poet Kalidasa in the 4th century.

In Shaivite tellings, Holi marks the return of which god, burned to ashes by Shiva's third eye?

Kamadeva was brought back after his wife Rati pleaded with Shiva, but only in a disembodied form.

What is the traditional name for the coloured powders thrown at Holi?

Gulal was traditionally ground from flowers with medicinal properties, but cheap synthetic dyes later took over, and some of them irritate skin and eyes.

The flowers of which tree, called the flame of the forest, are the traditional source of Holi's red and orange colours?

Palash blooms in a blaze of orange-red around February and March, so its flowers are out just as Holi arrives.

Which spice powder is the typical traditional source of yellow Holi colour?

Turmeric is mixed with chickpea flour for the right yellow, yet add a pinch of lime and the same spice turns orange-red.

Which vegetable is the traditional source of magenta and purple Holi colours?

Beetroot owes its colour to betanin, a pigment food makers also use as a red dye in ice cream and sweets.

The dried leaves of which plant were a traditional source of Holi's green colour?

Henna, or mehndi, gives a green powder, and worries over synthetic Holi colours have led many people to prefer natural ones like it.

What is the half-moon-shaped deep-fried sweet pastry traditionally offered at Holi?

It is stuffed with sweetened khoa, coconut and dried fruit, and looks rather like an empanada.

Which cold milk drink with almonds, saffron and rose petals is a Holi favourite?

Thandai is prized as a cooler as the hot months arrive, and in Varanasi it is often laced with bhang for Holi.

Bhang, traditionally distributed at Holi, is an edible preparation made from the leaves of which plant?

Cannabis leaves go into bhang, which Varanasi revellers call Lord Shiva's prasad, so it is handed out on Maha Shivaratri as well as Holi.

In Barsana's Holi, women famously do what to the men who arrive from neighbouring Nandgaon?

Beat them with sticks: the Nandgaon men carry shields, re-enacting Krishna's gang being driven out of Barsana by Radha and her friends.

Holi in Vrindavan's temples has brought colour into the lives of which women, long expected to wear white?

Widows: after a Supreme Court case over their plight, a charity began organising Holi for them in 2013, and they now throw colour and flowers.

Which city in the Braj region, a centre of Holi celebrations, is the birthplace of Krishna?

In legend, Krishna was born in a prison in Mathura, where his uncle Kamsa ruled, and was smuggled across the Yamuna to be raised safely in Gokul.

The Braj Holi game Matki Phod, where human pyramids smash a hanging pot, honours which Krishna nickname?

Makhan chor, the butter thief: women hung their butter out of the boy Krishna's reach, so teams climb on each other's shoulders to break the pot.

Which Sikh Guru founded Hola Mohalla, the martial festival held the day after Holi at Anandpur Sahib?

Guru Gobind Singh wanted his followers to practise for combat, so Hola Mohalla fills the day with mock battles, archery and displays of horsemanship.

Which Mughal emperor banned the public celebration of Holi by decree in November 1665?

Earlier emperors let citizens of all castes throw colour on them; the ban lapsed after his death and Bahadur Shah Zafar even wrote a Holi song.

In West Bengal, Holi is celebrated as Dol Jatra, meaning what?

Swing festival: images of Radha and Krishna are placed on a decorated swing and rocked while devotees throw coloured powder at them.

Bengal's Dol Jatra full moon doubles as the birthday of which saint?

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spread devotion in Bengal by leading kirtan, ecstatic group singing and dancing in praise of Radha and Krishna.

Basanta Utsab, Santiniketan's version of Holi, is associated with which poet?

Rabindranath Tagore's university at Santiniketan hosts it, with students singing his songs and smearing each other with coloured powder.

By what name is Holi known in the Caribbean, in countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname?

Phagwah reached the Caribbean with Indian indentured labourers, brought in to work the sugar plantations after slavery was abolished.

Which Manipur festival, merged with Holi, opens by burning a thatched hut?

Yaoshang also sends children door to door collecting donations, and at night people dance the Thabal Chongba, 'dancing in the moonlight', in circles.

In Maharashtra, which sweet is the main delicacy of the Holi festival?

Puran poli is the dish of Maharashtra's Holi, but the colour throwing there waits for Rang Panchami, five days after the bonfire.

In a playful Holi custom, women roll their saris into ropes to chase which relatives?

Their brothers-in-law, who take the mock rage in the spirit of the day and bring their sisters-in-law sweets that evening.

Kumaoni Holi in Uttarakhand is unusual for being what kind of affair?

A musical one built on classical ragas: singers match the raga to the hour, with Peelu and Sarang at noon and Yaman in the evening, over almost two months.

Pakistan's parliament backed minority holidays for Holi and Diwali in a resolution that also covered which festival?

Easter: the 2016 resolution did not declare the holidays itself, but only urged the government to take steps to declare them.

Besides India, which country celebrates Holi as a major national festival?

Nepal marks Holi as a national festival, and people fling water balloons called lolas at each other in the streets.

Which Holi-inspired 5K run franchise douses runners in powder at checkpoints?

The Color Run is untimed and has no winners, and the 'paint' thrown at runners is food-grade cornstarch.

A well-known American Holi celebration takes place at a Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in which Utah town?

New York hosts NYC Holi Hai in Manhattan and the Festival of Colors: Holi NYC.

Holi in Goa is part of a longer festival season known by which name?

Shigmo fills Goa's towns with parades of folk dancers and giant floats, drawing crowds of tourists to cities such as Panaji.