Holi is known to be the festivals of color. Holi is celebrated with lots of vibrant feelings in the peoples heart. Its a celebration of color and celebration of joy. There is a mythological story behind the celebration of Holi. Today we will discuss about that famous story.

Hiranyakashipu, was known to be the king of evils. He had prayed to Brahma for years and then Brahma gave him blessings. As a result Hiranyakashipu could not be killed by any power whatsoever. When Hiranyakashipu understood the power that he was blessed with, he could not control himself. Everybody used to worship The Gods but Hiranyakashipu forced everyone to worship him because he believed that he was as powerful as the Gods. His torture became intoloreble and then after few years a son was born to him.

His sons name was Prahlad. From the very beginning itself  , Prahlad used to worship Visnhu. When all other people worshipped Hiranyakashipu, his own son worshipped Vishnu. This made Hiranyakashipu very very angry. He tried to force his son to worship him, but Prahlad continued worshipping Vishnu. 

Hiranyakashipu became so angry with Prahlad that he wanted to kill his own son. He tried variou ways to kill Prahlad but he could not be killed. he put him in a room full of venomous snakes but Prahlad kept worshipping Vishnu and he could not be killed. Then he planned another way to kill Prahlad. He told his demon sister Holika to sit in fire holding Prahlad in her lap so that he would get burned. Holika covered herself with a shawl so that she would be safe but kept Prahlad uncovered so that he would get burned. 

But the shawl went off from Holika and covered Prahlad because of his blessings from Vishnu.  Holika was burnt into ash but Prahlad was safe. Then Vishnu got angry and appeared between day and night to kill  Hiranyakashipu. This is the reason why straws are burnt the eve before Holi.      

Holi was first celebrated by Lord Krishna in Brindavan. He started playing with colors with his Gopinis and friends. These colors were naturally made from  flowers. But today we use chemical colors to play Holi. These colors should be avoided for safety. 

Anyways this was the story behind the celebration of Holi. Let us all celebrate Holi with lots of love and joy in our heart. It is a celebration of love and joy. So lets feel the essence of this beautiful festival.