Holi The Festival Of Spring - Scientific Importance

India has an age-old tradition of festivals. In India, festivals do not just offer people a temporary reprieve from their daily grind. Imbued with deep inner significance, each festival is a multifaceted celebration. The day on which a particular festival is celebrated has a special astrological significance, and certain observances on these days yield manifold benefits. The festivals play a significant role in adding color and gaiety to the lives of the Indian people. Some festivals are celebrated specially to welcome the full moon, rains, new harvest while others are celebrated for purely religious purposes.
Indian Hindu festivals hold some scientific importance with their religious importance.

Holi, also called the Festival of Colors, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India. Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (February/March), (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March. It is interesting to note that the festival of Holi is significant for our lives and body in many other ways than providing joy and fun.
We also need to thank our forefathers who started the trend of celebrating Holi at such a scientifically accurate time, also for incorporating so much fun in the festival. In India, spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause viral fever and cold. Thus, the playful throwing of natural colored powders has a medicinal significance: the colors are traditionally made of Neem, Kumkum, Haldi(Tumeric), Bilva, Red Sandlowood powder and other medicinal herbs prescribed by Āyurvedic doctors. Haldi,Red sandlowood & Neem is used to make face packs & many beauty treatments. Traditionally, the dry colors used in Holi were prepared from Tesu or Palash flowers, which are first gathered from the trees, dried in the sun, and then ground up, and later mixed with water to produce orange-yellow coloured water .For wet colours, traditional flowers of Palash are boiled and soaked in water over night to produced yellow colored water, which also had medicinal properties. Tesu colors help in improving the skin complexion, suplness of the skin. Legends say Lords Krishna use to play holi with Tesu flower colors.

There is yet another scientific reason for celebrating the Holi, this however pertains to the tradition of Holika Dahan. The mutation period of winter and spring, induces the growth of bacteria in the atmosphere as well as in the body. When Holika is burnt, temperature rises to about 145 degrees Fahrenhiet. Following the tradition when people perform Parikrima (circumambulation or going around) around the fire, the heat from the fire kills the bacteria in the body thus, cleansing it. During the festival, the season is going through a change - from winter to summer. It is the period when people feel lethargic and drowsy. Holi provides them the opportunity to wear off their laziness, by enjoying themselves thoroughly.