Holi Festival Tour – Best Way to Experience the Festival of Colours at Braj

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Holi Festival Tour Best Way to Experience the
Festival of Colors at Braj
Holi Festival Tour in Braj that covers the city
of Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Jalesar, Agra,
Hathras, Aligarh, Etah, Auraiya and Farrukhabad
districts in the northern state of India called
Uttar Pradesh. Locals here are called Brijwasi
and as per Hindu religion, is a revered land
because this is where Lord Krishna was born and
is supposed to have spent his childhood and
youth. The heart of Braj is Vrindavan and the
place attracts hundreds of disciples and pilgrims
through the year as part of festivals tour of
India, especially during the festival of colours
Holi.
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Lathmar Holi in Barsana
Indian festival tours are the best way to get
exposure about intricate details of different
festivals of the country and what better way than
to start your festival tour holi in Braj covering
different parts of Braj and revel in the
celebrations of the festival of colours. Planning
to see and experience the authentic and
conventional form of Holi celebrations? The
following should surely be part of your Holi tour.
Celebrations the next day at Nandgaon. A similar
kind of fun and celebrations is organized at
Nandgaon, Krishnas village where women from
Radhas village Barsana come over to apply colour
to the men here.
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Holi at Banke-Bihari Temple at Vrindavan
Celebrations the next day at Nandgaon. A similar
kind of fun and celebrations is organized at
Nandgaon, Krishnas village where women from
Radhas village Barsana come over to apply colour
to the men here. The Banke-Bihari Temple at
Vrindavan is another place that needs to feature
on your itenary of Holi festival tour. The
festivities start here well in advance. Following
traditions, the idol of Lord Krishna is
dressed up in a white colour dress followed by
the shower of gulaal (colours) and flowers with
traditional pichkaris and water guns on
followers. Priests called Goswamis also follow
suit and spray colours on all devotees. The
unique point about the celebrations here is that
it is done using organic materials like flowers.
With bhajans and religious music filling up the
background and devotes chanting the name of
Krishna and other sacred texts, the place is
filled with joyousness and bliss amidst devotees
dancing and enjoying the moment.
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Holi at Dauji Temple
Celebrations at the Dauji Temple which get a
little belligerent. Called Huranga, it is a
customary celebration where women beat up men
gleefully in the temple premises. This age-old
celebration is restricted to the family that
built the temple which has about 3000 living
members now women from the family beat up the
men and even tear open their dresses before
everyone else joins in celebrating Holi the
traditional way.
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Holi at Dwarkadheesh Temple at Mathura
Another worth visit a place is the Gulal Kund
located near the Govardhan Mountain. Two things
about the festivities here are the Raas-Leela
performance where native people dress up to enact
Holi related scenes from Radha-Krishna tales and
then the phoolon Ki Holi where flowers are
showered over everyone gathered. The Dwarkadheesh
Temple at Mathura is another venue where the
Holi celebrations get maddening. The temple is
opened for the general public in the wee hours of
the morning on the actual date of Holi and as the
crowd swell up they play Holi with each other
using organic colours, water balloons and
distribute sweets and mithais.
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Holika Dahan at Holi Gate
The victory of righteousness over evil,
celebrated in Phalen, Nandgaon and Barsana with
the burning of the holy bonfire on full moon
night. The pyre is lit to enact and replay the
Prahlad-Holika burning episode from Hindu
mythology. The high point of the festivity is to
watch religious priests walk through the fire
without getting burnt. The pious Holi procession
in Mathura. Once the festivities get over in
Vrindavan there is a procession that starts at
the Vishram Ghat and moves through the galis and
streets of Mathura to end at the Holi Gate. The
highlight of the procession is the chariot decked
up with flowers that carries young people dressed
up as Radha and Krishna. At the Holi Gate,
the Holika Dahan is done to mark the end of the
procession.
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Khardung La Pass
Another notable feature about this
particular festival tours of India is watching
the widows of the town take active part in the
celebrations. Barred from all kinds of social
activities, this is one event where they
participate with full involvement spraying
colours on each other and having the traditional
mithai. The distribution of bhang amongst
devotees and visitors is also another highlight
of the Holi celebrations in Brij.
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