Holi is the spring festival of India, celebrated by playing with vibrant colors. The colorful festival is the wonderful opportunity to reconnect to the family and friends and rejuvenate the social ties. During the festival, people smear color on each other's face and splash water, playfully. The festival is known for the generous use of colors, which are produced both naturally and artificially. While gulal is the main color of the festival, which is available in vibrant pink shades, red, green and yellow, other colors, which are a bit hard, have also occupied the market shelves. In this article, find out all about the rang/color of Holi festival.
Legend
There is a legend behind the use of colors on Holi. According to the Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna started the tradition of playing with colors during the festival. He was jealous of his soul mate - Radha's fair complexion, because he was dark in color. The young Krishna often complained about his dark skin tone to his mother - Yashoda. To placate the child, Yashoda asked him to smear color on Radha's face, so that her fair complexion is masked. Obeying his mother, Lord Krishna applied color on Radha's face, which changed her complexion. The playful and mischievous Krishna started the game of playing with colors and this is how, the celebration of Holi with colors was started.
Holi Festival Colors
Dry Holi colors known as 'Gulal' and wet colors or 'Rang' were originally prepared naturally from the flowers and other products that had dyeing properties. However, with time, in the quest of more long-lasting and strong colors, chemically enhanced and artificial colors have come in vogue. The harmful effects of these chemicals on our body and eyes have forced us to do a turn-about to the natural colors. However, you certainly don't need to disappoint as one can create beautiful reds, greens, blues, saffron, yellows and magentas at home, and that too naturally.
Types Of Holi Colors
There are various types of colors used for the festival of Holi. Out of the colors, gulal are the prominent ones. They are available in rose, red, green and yellow colors. They are generally scented, dry and applied on face. Being very soft color, gulal doesn’t cause much stain, even if it is mixed with water. The color is also used to apply tilak on the forehead of guests of Holi. Hard and long lasting colors in the shades of green are also available in the market, which are generally mixed with water and splashed using pichkari. Balloons are also filled with the colors. Apart from the dry and wet colors, certain latex paints in the color of black are also available in the market. Such colors are considered harmful and are suggested to avoid.
