India is a country of bright colors and incredible aromas. The annual festival takes place here, where you can see a lot of colorful dresses and participate in the traditional showering with special dry dyes. For this purpose, you need to use Holi paints, mandatory for the holiday.
- Holi Holiday Legends
- Holi - what kind of paints
- Application of paints
- Making Holi at home
- The danger of Holi colors
- Washing paint stains
- Camera protection
Holi Holiday Legends
March 2–3 celebrate one of the most striking, colorful Hindu holidays, which symbolizes the onset of spring, the beginning of the year according to the Indian calendar. The second name is the Festival of Colors, because special dyes are widely used there. Every resident of India knows the date of the Holi festival.
It is named after the burning of the demoness Kholika, the sister of the demon king Hiranyakasipu, who wanted complete submission only to himself. But Prahlada's nephew opposed and began to worship the god Visnu. Then Kholika wanted to burn the boy on fire, covering herself with a reliable cloak. At the last moment, he flew away, protecting Prahlada, and the demoness died.
At the beginning, at a symbolic holiday, they smeared the body with ashes, which remained after the burning of the effigy of Kholiki. Over time, the gray ash was replaced with a coloring powder of different colors, and they do so now.
to contents ↑Holi - what kind of paints
What paint is made of, what is it? In appearance, Holi is a bright powder, packaged in bags or jars. Traditionally, it had four colors - yellow, black, blue (indigo) and red, but now more shades are being realized. Places where such funds are sold are specialized online stores of Indian goods. You can also buy Holi directly at the festival, which is now held by many countries.
Previously, dried ground plants, mainly phalaenopsis, were part of the paints. Now they use corn flour dyed with additives that are safe for humans to create paints. Natural dyes are often used, such as turmeric, sandalwood, asters, orchids and others.
to contents ↑Some Holi paints even have a healing effect, since the composition includes plants recognized by medicine. Real Holi are not cheap, because a lot of expensive raw materials are spent on their production. A popular brand is HoliLike.
Application of paints
The traditional way to use colors is to sprinkle yourself and those around you, coloring everything in its path, which happens during the Holi festival. As a result, faces, bodies, clothes are painted in the most incredible shades. But the scope of the paint is not limited to Indian holidays. Here are other areas of their use:
- spectacular photo shoots;
- body art;
- parties
- Holidays
- mass entertainment events;
- concerts
- theatrical performances.
Making Holi at home
Paints of this type can be made by yourself at home.In India, many make products at home by drying and rubbing the stems, leaves, flowers or bark of plants. Corn flour is added to the resulting mixture in order to preserve the color and make the powder light. Of course, this method of creating Holi is time-consuming, there are options much easier. You can buy ready-made corn flour, combine with turmeric powder, and the paint is ready!
Other shades are made in this way:
- mix a glass of white flour and water until you get a thick dough that is well behind hands;
- approximately in the middle of mixing, add any food coloring (for example, for Easter eggs) or juice of vegetables and fruits into the dough;
- to form a ball, leave in the refrigerator for an hour;
- roll out several thin cakes from the dough;
- grease tracing paper with vegetable oil, transfer cakes to it;
- allow to dry in air or in the oven at +50 degrees (withstand at least one day at room temperature).
to contents ↑How to make paint from such cakes? They must be ground in a coffee grinder or blender. Holi is easily washed, washed off clothes, safe. You can also grind ordinary children's colored crayons with a blender, but their tones will not be as bright as required for the production of real Holi.
The danger of Holi colors
It is believed that natural dyes are completely harmless, because in their composition there are only natural components. Nevertheless, even at traditional festivals in India, there are more and more cases of allergic reactions, because different people have different individual sensitivity of the body. Because of the risk of inhalation of Holi powder, paints can be dangerous to asthmatics and other people suffering from lung or bronchial diseases.
The penetration of paint into the eyes also threatens problems - from inflammation to loss of vision. If synthetic dyes are used for the production of Holi, the danger of skin and other forms of allergy increases many times! Natural sandalwood as part of some Holi is dangerous for pregnant women - it can cause uterine cramps and premature birth. Therefore, at the festival of colors it is advisable to use personal protective equipment - masks, glasses, as well as cover your head with a scarf, and for pregnant women it is better to skip the event.
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Washing paint stains
To wash the dyes is usually not difficult - they are washed off well with water. But synthetic colors, which are becoming more and more in India, are much more difficult to wash. The work may be even more difficult, as it is customary to wear white cotton or linen clothes at festivals. In addition, powders can mix with dust, dirt, and removing them will not be easy.
Experts advise not to think about whether Holi can be completely washed away, but to put on simple clothes that you don’t mind leaving. Then you can enjoy the holiday without thinking about spoiling things. It is also worth taking wet wipes with which you can remove Holi from the nose, ears and other parts of the body. Hair from paint is washed with a regular shampoo. On the face, it is better to first apply a sunblock, which will prevent the appearance of persistent spots on the skin.
Camera protection
Colored powder can harm equipment - a smartphone, a camera. For protection, it is worth wrapping the device with paper, foil, otherwise the paint will get inside. Better yet, put the equipment in a waterproof case. If not, a cling film or regular bag will do. Thus, you can spend time with pleasure and without financial loss!
