India GOHoli: where to celebrate and how to play it safely
The day India drowns in color
Holi is India's spring festival of colour: a bonfire on the full-moon night of Phalguna, then a morning in which strangers smear each other with gulal (coloured powder) and soak each other with water. In 2027 most of India plays colour on 23 March, and Rajasthan a day earlier, on 22 March. Where you spend it matters more than anything else: Holi in a Braj village, on the Varanasi ghats and in a Delhi suburb are three different festivals.
Festival of Colors and Spring Joy
The full moon of Phalguna: Holika Dahan on the evening of the full moon, colours the next morning. The central government's holiday list for the year, issued around July of the year before, confirms the day. Rajasthan sometimes plays colours a day earlier.
The legend
In the Bhagavata Purana, the demon king Hiranyakashipu wins a boon: no man or beast can kill him, by day or night, indoors or out.
He declares himself a god, but his son Prahlada prays only to Vishnu, and no punishment can harm the boy.
His aunt Holika sits with him in a bonfire, wrapped in a fireproof cloak. The cloak flies off onto the boy, and Holika burns.
Vishnu appears as Narasimha, half man and half lion, at dusk on the palace threshold, and the king meets his end.
So on the eve of Holi bonfires burn for Holika, and in the morning people colour each other, as Radha and Krishna once did in Braj.
Meaning
Braj
Here Holi runs for over a week: in Barsana women greet the men of Nandgaon with lathi sticks, and the next day it all repeats in Nandgaon.
Bengal
Dol Jatra: Radha and Krishna ride a decorated swing, and since 1923 Santiniketan has greeted spring with songs.
Sikhs
The next day is Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib: Guru Gobind Singh gave the festival a display of martial skill.
Manipur
Holi merges with Yaosang: on the full-moon night young people dance the thabal chongba, a group folk dance.
Konkan
Here Holi is Shimga: puran poli by the bonfire, children chanting "Holi re Holi, puranachi poli", and colours saved for Rang Panchami.
Customs
🔥 Holika Dahan
On the full-moon evening people walk around the bonfire, and in places ears of the new harvest are roasted in the flames.
Gulal and colour
In the morning come gulal powder and coloured water from pichkaris; by noon nobody is recognisable.
🤝 Making up
Holi is a day for making up: old quarrels are meant to be forgotten and debts forgiven.
🥁 Phag songs
Phag, the spring songs, start at Vasant Panchami; on the day of colours they are sung to the dhol drum, from house to house.
What people eat
🥟 Gujiya
fried pastries filled with khoa, nuts and coconut
🥛 Thandai
cold milk with almonds, fennel and rose
🫓 Puran poli
flatbread filled with sweet lentils and jaggery
🫙 Kanji vada
lentil fritters in a sour black-carrot brine
Words of the festival
गुलाल
gulal
coloured powder, thrown and smeared on cheeks
पिचकारी
pichkari
a squirter for spraying coloured water
होलिका दहन
Holika Dahan
"the burning of Holika", the bonfire on the eve of the colours
धुलेंडी
Dhulendi
the day of colours in the north, named from dhuli, dust
बुरा न मानो, होली है
bura na mano, Holi hai
"Don't be offended, it's Holi": said while throwing colour
How to greet
होली की शुभकामनाएँ
Holi ki shubhkamnayein!
"Best wishes for Holi": for friends, neighbours and anyone just covered in colour.
True or myth
✅ True. The Holika bonfires are lit on the full-moon evening of Phalguna, and the colours come the next morning.
❌ Myth. Colour is played in the morning and afternoon; by evening people wash, change into new clothes and go visiting.
❌ Myth. People with pichkaris appear on the 12th-century Chennakeshava temple at Belur and on a 15th-century relief at Hampi.
Where to celebrate
Mathura ⭐
In Braj, Holi runs for a fortnight of named events in different villages, and the most famous of them happen a week before the date the rest of India plays colour.
Jaipur ⭐
Jaipur keeps two Holis: flower Holi at Govind Dev Ji in the City Palace complex around Holika Dahan, and on the colour day the Tourism Department's free party on the lawns of Hotel Khasa Kothi.
Pushkar
Pushkar plays Holi in one packed square by the lake: drums at Varah Ghat chowk from first light, gulal in clouds, and a crowd that mixes the town with visitors from across India and abroad.
Varanasi
Kashi starts its Holi five days early: Baba Vishwanath's palanquin in clouds of gulal on Rangbhari Ekadashi, ash from the pyres at Manikarnika the next day, and colour on the ghats on Holi itself.
What you actually see
Holi comes in two halves. On the full-moon evening is Holika Dahan, "the burning of Holika": each neighbourhood lights a bonfire of wood collected for weeks, families walk around it, and in places ears of new wheat are roasted in the flames. It is smoky, quiet and local, and nobody minds you watching from the edge.
The next morning is the loud half, called Dhulandi in the north. From first light the streets fill with dhol drums, pichkaris (water squirters) and clouds of pink, green and yellow powder. Nobody stays clean, and nobody is meant to: by noon faces are unrecognisable. By early afternoon it stops: people go home to scrub, and in the evening visit relatives in fresh clothes with plates of gujiya.
On the colour morning autos and cabs mostly stay off the road until the afternoon. Plan the day on foot, from a room within walking distance of where the colour is.
Where Holi is celebrated best
Each place plays Holi in its own way, and not always on the same day.
Braj: Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Nandgaon
Here Holi is a circuit of about ten days, and its most famous days come a week before the rest of India starts. At Barsana's Lathmar Holi the women of Radha's village meet the men of Nandgaon with bamboo lathis (staves) while the men parry with shields; Nandgaon plays the return match the next day; Vrindavan's Banke Bihari temple showers the crowd with flowers; Baldeo's Dauji temple holds the Huranga the day after Holi. Every event is free. It is also the most crowded Holi in the country: on Barsana's day the administration deploys about 4,000 police and other personnel to manage the crowd. Base yourself in Mathura and arrive about nine days before the colour day. Day-by-day plan: [Holi in Mathura and Braj](/en/festivals/holi/mathura/).
Varanasi
Kashi starts five days early, on Rangbhari Ekadashi, when the palanquin of Baba Vishwanath is carried through the temple lanes in clouds of gulal. The next day is Masan Holi at Manikarnika, played with ash from the cremation ground; in 2025 the organising committee asked women to watch from boats or the corridor rather than join. On Holi itself the ghats from Assi to Dashashwamedh play colour until early afternoon, and Assi is the calmer end.
Pushkar
Holi in one packed square by the lake. Varah Ghat chowk fills with drums and gulal from dawn into the early afternoon, shoulder to shoulder, and the local kapda-phaad custom means shirts get torn (the administration has limited it in recent years). Pushkar is a holy town: no meat, eggs or alcohol, Holi included. It plays on the Rajasthan date, a day before Delhi.
Jaipur
The gentler option. Govind Dev Ji in the City Palace complex plays a temple Holi with flowers and colour around Holika Dahan, and on the colour day the Tourism Department holds a free Holi with dry gulal and Rajasthani folk dancers on the lawns of Hotel Khasa Kothi, no booking needed.
Beyond the north
Bengal keeps the day as Dol Jatra, with Radha and Krishna on a decorated swing; Sikhs gather the next day for Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib; in Assam the Barpeta Satra plays Doul as a Vaishnava festival in a 16th-century monastery courtyard. In much of the south Holi is a smaller affair.
✅ Etiquette and safety
Holi looks chaotic, and it is, but a few habits make the morning easy.
- Clothes — Wear old clothes you will throw away; white turns into the best canvas. Some colours stay in fabric and hair for days.
- Oil first — Rub coconut oil into skin and hair before you go out, and the colour washes off far more easily.
- Herbal colour — Buy herbal gulal; cheap chemical colours irritate skin and eyes. Keep your mouth closed in the thick of it, and sunglasses help.
- Phone — Zip-lock bag or waterproof pouch for the phone and camera; leave everything else at the hotel.
- Your no counts — "Bura na mano, Holi hai" ("don't be offended, it's Holi") is about play, not a licence. A clear no still counts, and if a group gets rough, step into a shop or head back.
- Crowds — At Barsana, Varah Ghat and the Varanasi lanes the crowd is shoulder to shoulder. Go with company, agree a meeting point, and keep clear of the palanquin's path in narrow lanes.
About bhang
Bhang, a drink or sweet made from cannabis leaves, turns up at Holi. Its strength is unpredictable and the effect can arrive hours later, so you may not know what you are being offered. Do not accept unknown food or drinks from strangers, do not mix it with alcohol, and seek help if you feel unwell. Holi is vivid enough without it.
👣 Booking ahead
The rooms are rarely the hard part; the trains are.
- Trains first
Holi is peak homecoming travel into Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Book the moment reservations open, 60 days ahead.
- Rooms
Braj: months ahead, Mathura and Vrindavan rooms for the Lathmar-to-Holi window are the scarce ones. Pushkar and Varanasi: about a month. Jaipur: two to four weeks.
- Arrive early
One day before for Jaipur and Pushkar (the bonfires are the night before), five days for Varanasi's Rangbhari Ekadashi, about nine days for the full Braj sequence.
❓ FAQ
When is Holi in 2027?
Across most of India the colours are played on 23 March 2027, after the Holika Dahan bonfires on the evening of 22 March. Rajasthan plays a day earlier: bonfires on 21 March, colours on 22 March. In 2028 Holi falls on 11 March.
Why is Holi celebrated?
In the popular legend, the bonfire recalls Holika, who sat in a fire with the boy Prahlada, a devotee of Vishnu, to kill him and burned herself while he survived. By Braj tradition the colours recall Radha and Krishna playing together. Holi also marks the arrival of spring.
Where is the best place to see Holi?
Braj (Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana and Nandgaon) is the most famous and the most intense, with about ten days of events. For something calmer, Jaipur's Tourism Department Holi and the Assi end of the Varanasi ghats are easier.
Do Holi colours wash off?
Most do after a few washes, especially if you oiled your skin and hair first. Some cheap colours stain skin, hair and fabric for days, which is why herbal gulal and old clothes are worth it.