News & Events

Holi Celebrations BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden, London
Sunday 28 February 2010

The Hindu festival of Holi was celebrated at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London on Sunday 28 February 2010.

Holi (Fagun sud Punam), the ‘festival of colours’, marks the joyous arrival of spring. Hindus celebrate the beauty, energy and new life associated with spring by spraying colour.

Also associated with Holi is fertility and the Vedic ritual of offering the first spring harvest to Agni, the fire deity. People availed of the newly harvested grains only after offering them to the devas. In keeping with this ancient custom, grains were duly offered to a bonfire lit in the open grounds of The Swaminarayan School.

Despite the cold and wet weather, hundreds of devotees and visitors arrived to partake in the devotional celebrations.