I love colours. I may not favour wearing some of them but collectively I love them. I love how they brighten the world and sprinkle life into everything they touch. Which is what drew my attention to the beautiful festival of Holi celebrated India.
Holi, otherwise known Phagwa or the festival of colours is a spring time celebration of the triumph of good over evil, a carnival of colors and a community festival that is celebrated annually between the months of February and March. Though there may be various versions of its origins it is undisputed that the Holi festival remains to be one of the most colourful festivals in the world.
Basically these are the highlights of the event:
Days before the festival of Holi, the markets will be filled with colours in every hue; which appropriately sets the festive mood for the people leading up to the actual day of celebration itself. All over the streets you will find impressive piles of brightly coloured gulal (coloured powder) that come in the varying shades of red, yellow, orange, magenta, pink, green, purple and blue, all of which patrons are busy buying to take home with them in preparation for the festivities.
On the day itself, children, friends and family all gather in good spirit out on the streets ready to celebrate the festival by “spreading/disseminating the colours”. Either in its natural powered form or mixed with water to form something similar to a homemade waterbomb, everyone will participate in the plastering of colours all over each other and every passerby.
You could say on this day something similar to a food fight takes place; only instead of food, colours are used. Everyone familiar with the festival of Holi would instinctively know how not to wear their best outfit for the occassion as not a single clean shirt on a body will be spared from being coloured!
At the end of the day, you’ll find all that’s left are literally colourful walking pieces of art; as the people of India and their surroundings are left brilliantly decorated from the gulal (dry colours) and rang (wet colours).
In the beginning, Gulal (coloured power) was all natural – made out of the dried seed of some tropical flowers such as the Palash, and dried silt from the riverbed. However as the yearning for more exotic colours to join the celebration grew, these natural options were replaced with the cheaper and more easily available chemical ones, contents of which were usually made up the following:
- Purple from Chromium Iodide
- Red from Mercuric Oxide
- Green from Copper Sulphate
- Black from Lead
- Glitter from Mica and glass
Clearly, all those quoted above are highly dangerous elements to have exposed to the skin, eyes, respiratory tract. They’ve been known to cause renal disorders and threaten life as carcinogenic agents that does not wash off easily.
Due to nature and extent of the usage of the gulal during the festival, the toxic chemicals inherently end up mixed in the drainage and sewerage systems polluting water sources and contaminating the vitality of the soil.
In the wakes of experiencing the alarming effects of its usage (chemical colourings), India and her people are now more cautious and are slowly but surely returning to the roots of tradition and Mother Nature for supply of their beloved gulal.
These days in India, Holi isn’t just plain Holi anymore, it’s Eco-Holi! 
