Page:Hindu Feasts Fasts and Ceremonies.djvu/61

Rh the Holi. There is no religious ceremony of any kind connected with this, but there is more than any reasonable amount of foolish practices associated with it. During the observance of this feast the youngsters of the Lala sect in Madras make, in each house or in common for a whole street, an image of Holika, sing obscene songs before it, offer sweetmeats, fruits and other things in mock-worship of the image, exchange horse-play. compliments by syringing coloured-water on each other’s clothes and spend the whole period of the feast like merry butterflies singing and chatting and abusing. Indecent language is allowed to be indulged in during the continuance of this jolly occasion. At about 1 on the full-moon day, the image of Holika is burnt, and children sit round the embers and beat their mouths making a mock-mourning sound. Tender children are shown over the fire for a second by the fond mothers and this process is believed to remove all kinds of danger from the babies.

Such is the origin of this feast, which, however, very few happen to know. Most of the observers of this feast imagine that the object