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India celebrates Holi in a unique manner
by Jethmal Sharma, Sushil Parekh, Virendra Pathak

     Bikaner/ Mumbai/ Allahabad: It is festival time across India as people from all walks of life are celebrating Holi, the festival of colours, with enthusiastic fervour. Holi revellers in Rajasthan's Bikaner are enjoying the famous Dab Dhamaal Holi, a unique manner of celebrating the festival of colours to the beats of the 'Dab'. The festivities here commence with the men-folk dressed as women and performing to the traditional Rajasthani folk songs. Artistes play various musical instruments and sing folk songs to mark the onset of the festival. "We start celebrating Holi from Basant Panchami (fifth day of spring season as per Hindu almanac) and we sing traditional songs with the medium of 'dab'. Through these songs, we tell people about the age old tradition and culture of Bikaner," said Satnarayan Parjapati, a local. In Mumbai, members of Koli (fishermen) community celebrated the festival a day before the actual day of Holi as per the Hindu calendar. Several generations of the fishermen community of Worli in Mumbai have been celebrating the festival. Traditionally, a tree is decorated with garland, flowers, fruits and food and is then worshipped by the Koli women. Later, wood is lit to conclude the celebrations. "We burn the Holi in the midnight. Women folk bring clay pot and put it in the Holi. It's an age old tradition," said Mandkar Wadkar, a local resident. Even foreign tourists joined the local revellers in the celebrations of Holi. "I think it's fantastic. It's a brand new experience. I have never seen anything like this before. I think it's brilliant," exclaimed Michael, a tourist from South Africa. Although Holi is celebrated with colours across India, people in Allahabad celebrate the festival in their unique manner. People take out a hammer procession in which the hammer is adorned as a groom along with a fan as the bride. All the traditional rituals of Hindu marriage are performed to wed this hammer and the fan. This procession begins with the breaking of a pumpkin that is filled with colours, which is then splashed over the revellers. Holi, a festival that holds a mythological importance, that of the triumph of good over evil.
-Mar 11, 2009