What is Holi Festival? - Hindu Festival of Colour - Behind the News

Recently Hindu people in Australia and around the world celebrated Holi. We asked a group of kids to tell us more about Holi and why it's important to them.

AMULLYA: Hello BTN, my name is Amullya and me and my friends are going to teach you about Holi.

ANUSHAA: In Holi we throw around colours in a symbol of happiness and love. It's a celebration of colours.

ARINJAY: What I do is wake up and then worship my god and then we go out and then we buy the colours and we start playing.

AMULLYA: It's a festival celebrated by Hindus like me. Hinduism is the third most practiced religion in the world and while it comes from India, there are Hindus all around the world.

ANUSHAA: Hinduism is a religion with many gods, here are three mains ones; Brahma is the god who created the world and everything in it; Vishnu is the god who keeps the order in the universe; and Shiva is the god who destroys the universe so it can be renewed. But there are many other gods.
ARINJAY: Some are Ganesha.

AMULLYA: Parvati.

PEETRI: Lakshmi.

LAKSHIEA: Krishna.

ANUSHAA: There’s Hanuman. He has the face of a monkey but the body of a human, it's kind of strange.

PREETI: There are lots of different stories about those gods and their relationships to humans. Holi is based on a story about the god Vishnu and how he saved a boy from being killed in a fire started by his evil aunt. It's a festival that celebrates the arrival of spring. Which is why it's held at the end of March. I know what you're thinking, it's not spring in Australia, but it is in India.

ARINJAY: We celebrate the Holi festival for two days. There’s special food and special ceremonies and my favourite part is to play with the colours, although it gets a little bit messy. Holi festival is really cool, fun and it's a great experience to be in.

LAKSHIEA: This is the powder here, it washes out of your clothes. But just in case, wear old clothes.

ANUSHAA: My favourite part about Holi is where you throw around colours and have water fights and get together.

AMULLYA: My favourite part about the festival is that we eat treats.

ARINJAY: My favourite part of the festival is that you get to be with family and you get to play around with them.

AMULLYA: Another really great thing about Holi is that you don't have to be Hindu. There are Holi festivals right around Australia and right around the world. And lots of people get involved.

ALL: Happy Holi.

BTN STORY PAGE
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/classroom/h...

RELATED BTN STORY
Ramadan http://www.abc.net.au/btn/10526258

__

For the past 50 years, Behind the News has been helping to break down current issues and events for young people all around the world. The program is a high-energy, fun way for people to learn about the stories we see in the news, while providing background information that isn’t usually given by other news bulletins.

We have over 1000 stories on all sorts of topics - everything from politics & volcanoes, to online security & fortnite. If you're looking for help to understand something, you'll probably find it on BTN.

Make sure to like & subscribe our videos if you want to stay in the know!

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/

Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook:   / abcbtn  
Instagram:   / behindthenews  
Twitter:   / behindthenews