Hindu holiday of fools is Holi – Hindu Festival Holi is Equivalent to April Fool’s Day For The Huffington Post

The Hindu holiday of fools is Holi – this is what Donna Henes, Urban shaman, eco-ceremonialist and ritual expert, writes in The Huffington Post in an article on the April Fool’s Day. There is fun and madness attached to Holi but equating with April Fool’s Day is not correct. Both of them cannot be compared. A popular festival associated with a religion has different dimensions. When it is introduced to people who are not much aware of the religion as Holiday of fools it has far reaching consequences.

Her knowledge of Hindu Festival Holi is this 

The Hindu holiday of fools is Holi, celebrated as a high-spirited fire festival, which proclaims the death of winter and the onset of spring fever. For five days there is utter relaxation of the accepted rules of behavior. Lewdness prevails. People spray each other in the streets with powdered color pigments. There is a ribald shift in the normal relations among the castes and between the sexes, which often degenerates into mudslinging and public beatings of men by women.

Ignorance and lack of respect for Hindu culture is evident in the short paragraph written by Donna Henes. What is more shocking is that such articles get published in respected blogs like The Huffington Post. Lack of research and the prejudice of the writer are evident in such a short paragraph.

To Donna Henes – if you did not have time to do a simple search on the Google regarding Holi

Holi is not the Hindu holiday of fools but is a festival that has history of more than five thousand years. It was first played by Hindu God Krishna who incidentally narrated the Bhagavad Gita. There are numerous rituals associated with Holi and for many Hindu families this is a great tradition. (Legends associated with Holi)

The fire festival is associated with young Prahlad’s unparalleled devotion to Hindu God Vishnu which helps in overcoming the demon Holika. (Symbolism in the bonfire lit on the night before Dhuleti Holi)

Holi is a festival associated with nature but it symbolically suggests new hope after a harsh winter. (Symbolism of Holi festival)

The public beating of men by women is a tradition associated with the legend of Krishna and is only played in two villages in Mathura. The women of Radha’s village defend their village from the Gopis who come to capture a flag in the temple. (Lathmar Holi in Barsana)

Finally thanks for bringing the caste angle into such a short paragraph in an article on April Fool’s Day. This shows the amount of prejudice that is stacked in the minds of people like Donna Henes.

Before writing on a festival observed by nearly 1 billion people some research is necessary. Had it been about a festival associated with another very popular religion of Asian origin, Dona Hannes would have done hours of research before writing a word.