Holi 2027
22 March 2027

Holi is Phalguna Purnima, kept over two days: the evening before as Holika Dahan, the bonfire, and the morning after as Rangwali Holi, the play of colours. The Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana tell of Prahlad, a devotee of Vishnu, whose father Hiranyakashipu could not turn him from his faith. His aunt Holika, who had a boon that fire could not touch her, carried him onto a pyre meaning to burn him; the fire left Prahlad untouched and consumed Holika instead, and the bonfire each year remembers that night.

The next morning belongs to colour, and to Krishna. In Braj, popular tradition remembers how young Krishna played with gulal and water among the gopis of Vrindavan and Barsana, and that spirit of playful colour is what Rangwali Holi carries everywhere. The festival also falls as the rabi harvest nears, so for many families it is as much a thanksgiving for the fields as a story of Prahlad or Krishna, and a day to mend quarrels and start the new season afresh.

• Wood, dried cow-dung cakes (gulari) and leaves for the bonfire
• Small figures of Holika and Prahlad
• Roli, akshat and raw cotton thread (moli)
• Gram stalks or corn ears, and a coconut
• Natural or herbal gulal and colours
• Gujiya, mathri and other sweets for visiting
• Old clothes to play in

Source: Prahlad and Holika: Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana. Krishna and the colours of Braj: popular tradition of Vrindavan and Barsana

Hiranyakashipu, who had won a boon of near invincibility, wanted the whole world to worship him alone, but his son Prahlad kept his devotion to Vishnu through every punishment his father tried. His sister Holika had a shawl, or in some tellings a boon, that fire could not burn.

Holika took Prahlad onto her lap on a blazing pyre, certain she would walk out unharmed with the boy dead. The fire instead burned away the very thing that protected her, and Prahlad, protected by his faith, stepped out of the flames untouched. The bonfire each Phalguna Purnima remembers that night, good over evil.

Alongside this, Braj keeps its own memory: that Krishna, as a child in Gokul and Vrindavan, played holi with coloured water and gulal among Radha and the gopis, delighting in the colour as much as in their company. That playful spirit, rather than any single verse, is what the morning of Rangwali Holi is said to carry forward.

What to do

• Use natural or herbal colours where you can, since they wash off kindly and are gentler on skin and eyes than the synthetic kind.
• Touch the feet of parents and elders before the colours start, since the day is kept for family as much as for play.
• Use the day to forgive and make up with someone you have had words with, in the old spirit of bura na mano, Holi hai.

What to avoid

• Avoid putting colour on anyone who does not want to play, or near their eyes and mouth even if they do, since the day’s joy should not come at someone else’s discomfort.
• Those with skin or breathing conditions are usually better off with dry, mild colours rather than strong ones, and a doctor’s advice is worth asking if in doubt.
• Avoid lighting the bonfire with anything other than wood, dung cakes and leaves; plastic or tyres are kept away from Holika Dahan in most mohallas now, for the air everyone shares.

Barsana and Nandgaon in Braj keep Lathmar Holi days before, where women playfully strike men with sticks in memory of Radha and the gopis. Shantiniketan and much of Bengal keep Basanta Utsav and Dol Jatra the same days, with Rabindra Sangeet and a swing for Krishna’s image rather than a bonfire-first custom. Punjab’s Sikh community follows Holi with Hola Mohalla, a day of mock battles and martial displays begun by Guru Gobind Singh ji.

Maharashtra and parts of the south keep an extra day, Rangpanchami, five days after Purnima, as the last and sometimes the most colourful day of play. Mathura and Vrindavan stretch the festival across more than a week of temple events leading up to Rangwali Holi.