Kathmandu. Today is Falgun Purnima. Today in the hilly districts and tomorrow in the Terai districts, there is a tradition of celebrating this festival by playing Holi. It is also a tradition to celebrate this festival as a symbol of the victory of truth over falsehood, and as a festival of family and social unity. It is a tradition to celebrate Holi by dressing each other in different colors and abir.

On the occasion of this festival, the Chir, which was buried in Basantapur, Kathmandu, is ritually carved and burned in Tundikhel with the accompaniment of music. The flags placed in the Chir are taken out and crushed with the belief that they will have medicinal properties, and the ashes of the Chir are administered as a tika to ward off evil.

On the eighth day of the month of Falgun, Fagu begins with the worship of a tree decorated with colorful flags and a carved wooden sign in front of the Gaddi Baithak in Basantapur.

Tonight, in Tundikhel, there is a tradition of feeding a demon named ‘Gurumapa’ with ten pathis of rice and the meat of a cow brought from Itumbahal, without leaving any traces, and then bathing it in a stream called ‘Jadhu’ inside the military hospital.

The story associated with this festival is that during the Treta Yuga, the demon king Hiranyakashipu, with the intention of killing his son Prahlad, a devotee of Vishnu, forced his sister Holika, who had received a boon from Brahma that she could not be touched by fire, to enter a burning fire with Prahlad. Holika herself was burnt to ashes, but the devotee Prahlad could not be touched by the fire.

It is believed that since then, the tradition of playing Holi (Falgu) has been around to commemorate the killing of Holika, who became a symbol of the sinful tendency to misuse power.

Similarly, in the Dwapar Yuga, the demon Putana, who was sent by Kansa to kill Lord Krishna, failed to suck his poisoned breast and was killed. It is also mentioned in the scriptures that the people of Vraja burn her to celebrate the Phagu festival.

Since well-prepared colors and abir prevent skin diseases, playing Phagu using such colors destroys the phlegm produced in the body during the winter. This festival also has Ayurvedic importance as the smoke from the burning rags eliminates the germs that cause many diseases during the winter.

The government has traditionally declared a public holiday to mark the Fagu festival. In the Terai region, this festival is celebrated the day after the full moon.