DEWS - The School, Panchkula: February 2010

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Precautions and Tips for Holi

BEFORE HOLI:
1) Before going to play Holi apply either castor oil or olive oil to the hair. The oil will form a layer over the hair and when you will wash you hair the colors will come off easily.

2) Apply mosituriser to your hands, face and all the exposed body parts.

3) Applydark color nail paint to your nails so that the nails do not get colored. Later remove the nail paint.

4) Wash your face with cold water if you get ant color on your face. Some colors get permanent after drying up.

5) Apply foundation just before playing Holi. This will protect your skin from dry colours. Also apply vaseline to your lips.

Hair:

To discourage hair loss and fall due to harsh chemicals in the holi colors, here are some remedies.

1) Apply almond oil and olive oil to your hair every night.

2) Soak fenugreek seeds in 4 tablespoon of curd then apply to hair or apply yellow of egg to the scalp for 30 minutes. Then wash away with shampoo.

3) Mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 3 tablespoon of oil and apply it to the hair. This will provide strength to your hair.

PACKS:

Pack for dry skin:1 tsp almond powder1 tsp honey2 drops lemon juicelittle milkMake a paste of all the ingredients and apply it your face. Let it stay for 20 minutes. Wet your hand with little water and try to rub offthe pack from the face. This will make your skin soft and clean.Pack for oily skin:1 tsp Masoor Daldried Orange peel 1 tsp rose water2 - 3 drops lemon juiceMake a paste of all ingredients and apply it to the face. When the pack gets dried, apply some water on your hands and then try to rub off the pack.

Things to remember:

1) Use cold water to remove the colors, hot water makes the color fast and it is difficult to get rid of them.

2) Do not wash your face again and again. This will make your face dry.

3) Do not rub your skin with any rough and hard thing. This will make your skin itchy. Apply coconut oil with the help of cotton and ten try to remove the colors.

4) To lighten the color, rub lemon wedges and then aplly wheat flour and oil mixture.

5) Apply moisturiser to the entire body immediately after a bath.

6) If you are planing a bleach or facial then wait for atleast a week.

7) Applying soaked amchur powder also helps get rid of color.

Natural Holi Colors

Natural Holi colors are those made using natural products like flowers, herbs, leaves, barks, roots etc. And the best part is that these natural colors for Holi can be prepared at home. Preparing the colors with children and friends at home in itself is a fun way to start the preparation for Holi festival. But the greatest advantage is that by preparing the gulal at home you can escape from the hazards created by dangerous chemical colors.

Green Dry Colour

For a pretty green shade, use mehendi/henna powder mixed with equal quantity of gram flour or green gram flour. Buy only pure mehendi and avoid one mixed with amla which is meant for colouring hair. Dry mehendi will not leave harmful colour on your face and can be easily washed off, which is another advantage.

Green Water Colour

To make your wet colour: mix two teaspoons of mehendi in one litre of water. Stir nicely. You can also make a lovely green colour using spinach, coriander, palak, mint and tomato leaves etc. by dipping them in water and getting the glorious green they have.

Dry Yellow Colour

For a sunny yellow colour you will need two teaspoons of turmeric to mix with double quantity of gram flour or besan which we use for making pakodas. You can also use atta, maida, rice flour or arrow root, groundnut powder,

The marigold, a gorgeous yellow, orange, ginger, red flower is another safe and cheap colour maker. Yellow chrysanthemums too are friendly flowers to use. Dry the petals of these flowers in shade to acquire a fine powder. Mix them with the besan etc. to make your colour.

You can also grind the dried up rind of the Bael fruit to make a shimmering yellow colour. For wet yellow colour, add one teaspoon of haldi to two litres of water and stir thoroughly. You can even boil it to strengthen the colour and then dilute it. Or you can soak marigold flowers in water or the Cassia fistula. Boil and leave overnight to get your colours.

Red Dry Colour

For a red colour use red sandalwood powder which is also good for your skin. Use this safer holi paint than the red gulal.

Use the gorgeous red hibiscus flowers by drying them in the shade. Then powder them to make a stunning red colour. Add flour to make it thicker. Annato or Sinduria has a water chestnut shaped fruit which will give you seeds with a lovely post box red colour. You can make dry and wet colours with it.

Remember that the red hibiscus flowers soaked in water overnight will give you a red which also has medicinal value.

Red Wet Colour

For wet colour put two teaspoons of red sandalwood powder in a litre of water and boil, dilute to use. Peels of red pomegranate boiled in water will also give you a red colour. If you want a orange and red shade, mix a pinch of chuna/lime powder (eaten with paan) with two spoons of haldi and a few drops of water. But dilute it with ten litres of water before using it. If you love blue, dry the jacaranda flowers in shade, and then grind them in the mixie to get a sweet blue powder.

How to Celebrate Holi with Kids

Holi is around the corner. The festival of free spirits. The festival of fun and frolic, and of bountiful colors. But unfortunately, the festival of colors has also turned into a festival of chemicals. The free spiritedness of Holi also gives rise to total lack of rules on the streets. It is only natural that parents of little angels are as apprehensive as they are excited about Holi. How do they see Holi, and more importantly, how should the kids celebrate Holi?

There is no doubt that kids should be introduced to the Indian culture and festivals. It brings in them a sense of belongingness, and a larger understanding of the society they are a part of. So I would suggest the ideal way to celebrate Holi, or any other festival for that matter is a story. Yes, the mythological story of Hiranyakashipu, Holika, Lord Narsimha and the little Prahlad. I have included a kid-appropriate version of this story at the end of this article. To start with, do include the kids in any preparation you do for holi, like making special sweets, gujia etc. Let the festivities start for them too. The next part is Holika-dahan, when the Holika is burnt and little Prahlad is saved. If a community celebration of this happens in your locality, make sure you take your child to witness it. Otherwise a scaled down version of the same can be hosted at home itself. It would be like having the story enacted, almost like a puppet show. Start with finding a safe place for the fire. A paper-Holika will burn earnestly, whereas a doll disguised as Prahlad can be saved by the child himself. Just attach a string to the Prahlad and ask your child to pull Prahlad to safety as soon as the fire is lighted. In addition to reinforcing the holi story, and imbibing some religious values in the child, this can also serve as a reminder that fire is a dangerous thing and should not be fooled around with. (They did see the Holika burn to ashes, didn’t they?)

Finally, the day of colorful, playful holi comes. You and the kids are ready with their pichkari to soak and color everyone in range. If you can, refrain from using colors and gulals till your kids are a little older. The colors and gulal used in holi are essentially chemicals and can have serious side effects . For example, red is mercury sulphite, green is copper sulphate, purple is made from chromium and bromide compounds and black has lead oxide. Their usage can lead to skin irritation, allergies, hair loss, edema and erythema and even blindness. You can choose to play with natural colors or with plain water. There are a lot of ways to create natural colors – you can use turmeric, beetroot and mehandi (henna) for common colors. You can be creative and make even more colors from household stuff. Ensure that you speak to the parents of his potential playmates so that they also play holi without these chemicals. However, it is always better to prepare your children in case others are playing with these colors. A generous helping of cold cream on the body, and oil on the hair and scalp should help. Clearly instruct your child to close her eyes if someone applies gulal on her head or face, or throws colored water towards her. With these precautions, you can be sure your child is going to have a fun-filled holi with memories to last a lifetime.

The Holi story for kids

Once upon a time there was a evil demon-king called Hiranyakashipu who was very proud and arrogant. He considered himself the most powerful one in the world, and ordered everyone to worship him, instead of Lord Vishnu. However, his own son, Prahlad was a very good boy, and a devotee of Lord Vishnu. This made king Hiranyakashipu very angry, and he asked his sister, Holika to get rid of Prahlad. Now, Holika also had a secret power. She was immune to fire, so that fire could never burn her. So, she took Prahlad with her, and sat in a huge bonfire. But Holika forgot that fire is a very dangerous thing, and everybody should be very careful near the fire. So Holika burned, and died. However, little Prahlad was continuously praying to the god, and so was saved because of his devotion to Lord Vishnu. Later, Lord Vishnu took Narsimha avatar and killed the evil king too. So, every year, we burn a bonfire on Holi, to remember that one should always be good, believe in god, and should always be careful of fire.