Holi why colored powder

These contaminants, through contact with skin, respiratory tract or eyes, can cause complications, the authors write. For their study, Gupta and colleagues assessed 13 patients complaining of eye pain, the sensation of a foreign particle or excessive redness and eye tearing. All patients had recently attended a Holi festival celebration. With its gorgeous textiles, exotic flowers, exuberant advertising billboards, hand-painted rickshaws and trucks covered with lights, patterns and brightly painted pictures of gods, India is one of the most colorful places on the planet.

They are not just pretty: In India they have meaning. In Hinduism there are three main deities: Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer and Vishnu the preserver. Vishnu spends eternity sleeping, until when called upon in a crisis, he wakes and like the most powerful of superheroes saves the world.

One name for him is Nilakantha, the blue-necked one, because of a story that he drank a pot of poison to save creation. So blue is a reminder that evil exists but can be contained, through courage and right actions. Krishna is a manifestation of Vishnu.

In addition to being associated with the gods, blue—through the indigo dye—is also historically linked with India. In the first century a. He suggested that the dye was a kind of slime sticking to the scum on river reeds. It actually comes from a bush with small green leaves that when dried and fermented in a dye vat look pretty scummy, which explains the misunderstanding. Indigo is intensive to process, and has historically been cultivated where labor is cheap. It had a brief heyday on slave plantations in the Caribbean and South Carolina in the 18th century, pricing the Indian plantations out of the market.

But when slavery was abolished, the British planted indigo again in Bengal, where weather conditions are ideal. The second was initiated by the year-old Hindu lawyer Mohandas later known as Mahatma Gandhi, as one of his first acts of peaceful civil disobedience against British rule, which finally led to Indian independence in If blue is the spiritually complex color of the gods, green is the color of nature and happiness.

There is no naturally green dye in India, so dyers would often double dip their cottons and silks in indigo and in turmeric or pomegranate peel, which made vivid yellow dyes. Yellow is also associated with the third caste, of Vaisyas, or merchants. On the evening of March 9th, the Hindu festival of color, Holi, kicks off and will continue through today, March 10th.

Celebrants often throw colored powder at each other, which makes for a vibrant display everywhere you look. But, what is Holi and why is colored powder used to celebrate this occasion? To explain, we have to take it back to ancient times. Holi was originally a religious and agricultural festival of fertility and harvest , according to BBC. The centuries-old festival is celebrated on the day after the last full moon in the Hindu month, Phalguna.

There are several religious stories attached to Holi. One of the most well-known is that of Prahalad and Holika. But because Holika was using her powers for evil, the gods retracted their gift and she turned to ash. According to NationalGeographic. The powders also pay homage to the bright colors seen during the spring season.

As Holi celebrations took root in Germany in recent years, Katrin Bossmann and colleagues of the German Federal Environment Agency tested four Holi powders to understand their particles better J. The particles also triggered inflammatory responses in cell culture. In addition, one powder the group tested that was based on natural dyes tested positive for mold. J-D Mallder, head of research and development for Utah-based Chameleon Colors, a manufacturer of Holi colors, notes that he has also seen mold contamination in samples from other suppliers.

Some colors require water for processing, he says, and if they are not dried quickly, mold can grow. Natural colors have a shorter shelf life, he says. They will fade in sunlight within a day. Contact the reporter. Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication.

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