Thread by @MumukshuSavitri

Holi is famous as the Hindu festival of joyous revelry with colors, but beneath all that revelry lie ancient Vedic astronomical rituals deeply tied to the motion of the Sun and cosmic renewal.

In this thread I will attempt to explain how the various aspects of the festival of Holi are rooted in very ancient astronomical concepts like the Sun’s oscillation, the Vedic New Year ceremony, and the cyclical nature of time.

Today, we consider January 1st as the start of the New Year, but there was a time in ancient Vedic tradition, when the year once began in Phalguna (Holi’s month). Texts like Tilak’s Orion reference Vedic calendar systems where Phalguna marked both the end and beginning of the year, leading into the vernal equinox. This was a clear astronomical transition, where the Sun shifted northward, bringing longer days and renewed energy. So the festival of Holi, was not just a celebration of spring but a marker of time itself, rooted in the solar cycles of renewal.

Even today in Braj, Bengal and Odisha, Holi is celebrated as Dol-Yatra/Poornima, the Swing Festival, where Krishna is ceremonially rocked back and forth on a swing (hindola). This Vaishnavite festival represents the sun as a form of Vishnu. The celestial swinging motion is not arbitrary though, it symbolizes the pendulum like oscillation of the Sun as it moves across the sky between the two solstices of Dakshinayana (Sun’s southern journey, leading to winter, shorter days, and darkness) and Uttarayana (Sun’s northern journey, leading to summer, longer warmer days, and vitality)

Just as a pendulum pauses before reversing direction, the Sun reaches a turning point where it pauses before moving into its brighter phase. Holi marks that final swing before the Sun fully ascends into its strongest months. The Sun’s journey is cyclic, and Dol-Yatra preserves this cosmic motion in ritual form.

So, amazingly the Dol Utsav symbolizes a profound astronomical observation which marks the occasion where the sun is "rocking" into a new phase of the year in his journey across the sky - symbolized by Krishna in his Hindola!

Fascinatingly, even the central Holi ritual Holika Dahan, where an effigy of Holika is burned in a bonfire is not just from the legend about Prahlada and Bhagwan Narasimha saving him from his demoness aunt Holika - it is also a remnant of the Vedic Yagnas or fire sacrifices that marked the burning of the past year. The ancient Vedic New Year’s first yagna was called Agrahayana (which literally means the first month of the year in Sanskrit) and performed to burn away the impurities of the previous cycle to reset time itself. Agni is a cosmic purifier, ensuring that disease, disorder, and misfortune were consumed before the Sun entered its new phase. In several texts Holika herself is referred to as the sister of Samvat (year) who is cremated to usher in the new year. The word Holika itself likely comes from the combination of “Homa” (burnt offering in Yagna) and “Loka” (mankind), where it refers to humans gaining prosperity and good fortune from the performance of the Yagna itself.

Therefore, beginning the festival with the fire of Holika is not just a ceremonial destruction of all the bad things from the previous year, it is a cosmic reset, a purification of time itself in anticipation of a fresh start for the new year.

Interestingly in the ancient Vedic ceremony of the Agrahayana, it is said that a Ram (Mesha) was offered to symbolize the death of the old year and the rise of the new solar cycle. And even today in many regions, people offer sugar sweets shaped like animals (khilona mithai) or fire-altars (math) along with burning grains to mark a new beginning during Holi, echoing the memory of these ancient rituals. But why a ram or Sheep in particular? Once again we are faced with a fascinating astronomical observation crystallized into ritual form. It’s because the Sun enters Aries (Mesha Rashi) around mid-April (Mesha Sankranti), marking the true solar New Year. Aries, ruled by Mars (Mangal), is a fiery, energetic sign, representing renewal, vigor, and transformation.
So the burning of Holika and the symbolic sacrifice of the Mesha reflects the Sun leaving the old year behind to transition into Aries, marking the start of a new cosmic year.

The astronomical basis of Holi also explains its most beloved ritual of Dhuleti, where we play with colors during the festival. Because the Sun is the source of all color when its light scatters into the visible spectrum. As the Sun regains strength, nature transforms from winter’s dullness into vibrant hues. Holi’s colored powders (gulal) symbolize this cosmic shift - just as the Sun disperses light across Earth, we scatter colors to welcome its return.

In ancient Yajnas, red powders were offered into sacred fires as symbols of Agni (fire), the Sun, and cosmic energy. The dominance of red in Holi (red gulal) may have originated from this practice. Additionally fragrant flower colored substances like barley powder were used for playing with colors. The act of throwing red gulal in particular is a symbolic memory of offering to the cosmic forces, reenacting Vedic sacrifices in playful form.

The explosion of colors represents the explosion of light and renewal across the earth when the sun begins its new journey.

Holi is not just about welcoming spring with colors, revelry and feasting, it is also a profound Vedic astronomical festival which marks the end of all negative effects from the old year, welcoming the auspiciousness of the new year and cosmic renewal. Every time during Holi, when a Hindola swings back and forth with baby Krishna, or we throw colors with abandon on each other to welcome the colors of spring, or watch the mesmerizing warmth of Holika’s fire as we make offerings, we are participating in a profound celestial rituals based on nature’s cycles and universal order which have been meticulously observed, ritualized and celebrated by Hindus across many millennia.

Holi is the glorious Hindu festival where time resets, the Sun ascends, and the universe is painted anew.
Holi Hai!