Yesterday and Sunday were days of the Hindu festival of Holi. We looked last year at this colourful and much loved festival. It is a Hindu Springtime festival and celebrates love, colour and Spring time. The festival celebrates the eternal and divine love of Radha and Krishna. It also signifies the triumph of good over evil.
"On the day of Holi, entire streets and towns turn red, green and yellow as people throw coloured powder into the air and splash them on others. Each colour carries a meaning. Red, for example, symbolizes love and fertility while green stands for new beginnings. People also splash water on each other in celebration."
It is a joyful time as people like to celebrate but also everyone welcomes the Spring and the new start to the year. This happy festival is often used in the UK these days and do look out in tv advertisements, drams and films and even media events.
The fact that it marks the triumph of good over evil at the same time this year as we as Christians also think about Jesus' victory, good over evil, life over death.
Also being celebrated now or almost, is the Jewish feast of the Passover. We recall Jesus was in Jerusalem to mark the Passover. It actually starts on Saturday 27th March and goes on until Sunday 4th April. It is a holiday like Holi and Easter and it marks the time when the Jewish people were freed from slavery by the Egyptians and marks the beginning of the Exodus. In the Torah, God helped the people of Israel escape—under the leadership of Moses—by casting 10 plagues on the Egyptians so they would release them from his reign.
The Passover is also an ancient Springtime festival and is hugely supported by Jewish people all over the globe. It starts with a special meal, the seder, which marks the beginning of the holiday but also is the re telling of the story of a festive meal in which the Haggadah (the book of Exodus and related writings) is recited in a set order. It is the gathering place for the family to be together for the Seder and thus holiday, in a way much as we gather together when possible for Christmas. After this meal again the faithful Jews should not eat anything leaven until the holiday time, the festival of Passover is completed.
Christians know that Jesus Christ was Jewish and ie entered Jerusalem city to celebrate the Passover with his disciples. We recall his celebrating the Passover meal though may be not a strict version of it, in the Last Supper. We remember Judas' betrayal, the agony of the Garden of Gethsemane and the trial and death upon the cross. Then the joy of Easter Sunday.
