Holi 2020 Celebration Date, Significance, History & Timings: Holi is a festival of colors that is celebrated every year with lots of fun and enthusiasm in the month of March. This festival is celebrated in two days with the first day called Chhoti Holi or Holika Dahan and the second day of the festival is called Holi.
This festival is one of the major celebrations of India and is observed with a lot of passion. As per to Hindu calendar, the day falls on the Full moon Day in Phalgun month and therefore it is also called the Spring Festival because the day marks the arrival of spring.
Holi 2020: Date & Timings
Holi festival marks the closing of the winter season. As per the Hindu calendar, Holi falls on the last day of full moon or Purnima of the Falgun month. According to the English calendar, the day is celebrated in the month of February or March.
This year in 2020, Holika Dahan is going to be celebrated on 9th March 2020 and the main celebration i.e. Holi is going to be celebrated on March 10, 2020.
As far as the timings are concerned, the Holika Dahan timing will start at 6:26 and will end at 8:52 pm. The Purnima tithi, on the other hand, is going to begin at 3.03 am and will end at 11.17 pm.
Why Holika Dahan Is Celebrated?
According to Hindu Mythology, it is believed that ‘Prahlad’, son of Hiranyakashipu, was one of the devotees of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu commanded people to stop worshiping Gods and should only praise him, but his son never stopped worshiping God Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu then asked his sister Holika (who was also blessed to get prevented from her from being burned by fire) to kill his own son and ordered Prahlada to sit on her lap.
To his amaze Lord Vishnu, himself came to save Prahlada and Holika burnt to death, while Prahlada survived unharmed and that’s why Holika Dahan is celebrated by burning Holika.
This mythological story is the demonstration of the power of devotion over evil and encourages us to never lose our faith.
Holi 2020 Celebration
Holi is celebrated by playing with colors also called ‘gulal’. Earlier, Holi was celebrated with colors that were made with natural ingredients such as neem, kumkum, turmeric, and flower extracts. But nowadays artificial is used to celebrate Holi in most of the places.
A day before Holi, huge bonfires are lit in the evening to celebrate Holika Dahan. For worship, cow dung cakes, wood, ghee, milk as well as coconuts are thrown into the fire. People also dance, sing and feast with families and friends to celebrate the festival along with the celebration of new harvest season – Rabi. In most of North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, ‘Holi Melas’ are held to add more fun to this festival.
Holi, however, is mainly a Hindu tradition festival but it also celebrated in many parts of South Asia, as well as many people of other communities located outside Asia also celebrate this festival of color.
