Top Reasons to visit Mathura and Vrindavan to celebrate holi festival

Hello travellers looking to explore India, then Holi festival is an ideal time for you to explore India. Holi festival is celebrated with equal enthusiasm in both urban and rural India. This festival is also known as the “Festival of colors”.

The holi festival is celebrated in month of February or March. In this year Holi will be celebrated on 29th March and is the second most widely festival celebrated in India India after Diwali.

The celebrations of Holi festival according to Indian Mythology

Holi is celebrated with equal enthusiasm by every community but for Hindu community this festival has various mythological stories

Here are some of the Mythological stories behind the celebrations of Holi festival:

1. The great Indian festival lasts for a day and a night, which starts in the evening of Purnima or the Full Moon Day in the month of Falgun.

2. The festival celebrates the killing Holika, the sister of Hrinyakashyapu with the name Holika Dahan celebrated on first evening of the festival and the following day is called Holi. The ritual of Holika Dahan starts by lighting up the bonfire one day before the day of Holi and is mark to celebrate the victory of good over the bad.

3. Holi festival holds the significance respect to end of winter season and the onset of summer season.

4. Another beautiful way behind the celebration of Holi festival is associated with the immortal love of Radha and Krishna.

Mathura and Vrindavan holds the special place in India if any festival is dedicated to Radha and Krishna. Mathura is the birthplace of Lord Krishna and Vrindavan is the place where lord Krishna spend his childhood and met Radha. According to legend, the tradition of playing colors on Holi originated from the leela of Radha and Krishna. Mathura holds a vibrant place week before Holi.

How to reach Mathura and Vrindavan:

Mathura is a popular city in the state of Uttar Pradesh you can easily reach here via rail, air, road. Vrindavan is town in Mathura approximately 15 kms away

1. By Air: To reach Mathura by air the nearest airport Agra Airport which is 50 kms away from Mathura. However, as very few passenger flights operate here. The another major nearest airport to reach Mathura is Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi which is approximately 150 kms away. After reaching Delhi you can hire a bus, taxi or train to reach Mathura.

2. By Railways: To reach at Mathura by railways the nearest railway station is at Mathura junction which is very well connected to major cities including Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Indore, Agra, Bhopal, Gwalior, Varanasi, Lucknow to Mathura.

3. By Road: If you are in Delhi then to reach Mathura is very accessible by road. Mathura is very well connected by road from Delhi, Agra, Moradabad, Jaipur, Bikaner, Kolkata along with other small towns of UP and nearby states. Mathura is served by several state government buses along with private operators. Visitors can avail direct buses from places like Delhi, Agra, Alwar, Aligarh, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Haridwar etc.

Though holi celebrations start 1 month before the actual holi day in Mathura and Vrindavan but I suggest everyone if you really want to experience the celebrations of holi festival in Mathura and Vrindavan then reach here 1 week before because there are some events taken which you will definitely enjoy.

Here are the top reasons to visit Mathura and Vrindavan to celebrate holi festival:

1. Lathmar Holi at Barsana and Nandgaon: Lathmar holi is very unique way of celebrating holi festival takes place about seven days before the actual Holi at Barsana and Nandgaon. These are the two towns in Mathura where lathmar holi is celebrated. In this event women chase men and beat them up with Lathis (sticks) and it’s called lathmar holi.

The reason behind this event is Lord Krishna visited Barsana to meet Radha for Holi and teased her and her friends a lot. The ladies got a little offended and decided to teach Krishna a lesson and chased him away by beating him with sticks. So now men from Krishna’s village Nandgaon visit Barsana on this day and get beaten up and chased by the women here. Lathmar holi is celebrated with great enthusiasm by locals as well as tourists who came to enjoy the fun filled beatings.

This event is celebrated on 23rd March at Barsana and 24th March at Nandgaon.

2. Phoolon waali holi at Vrindavan: This event attracts most of you celebrating holi. This event taken place at the Banke Bihari temple in Vridnavan which is not celebrated with conventional dry or wet colors, but here this event is celebrated with flowers which is truly amazing.

This event is celebrated on 25th March at Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan.

3. Widows holi in Vrindavan : This event is mainly celebrated by widows living in ashram of Mathura or Vrindavan. This event is celebrated on 27th March at Pagal Baba widow ashram in Vrindavan.

4. Holi at Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan : Banke Bihari is the most popular religious place around whole Mathura in Vrindavan. This event takes place just a day before the main Holi festival. The temple opens up its doors to all visitors to come and play Holi with the lord himself. The priest throw colors and holy water and the crowd chants Radhe Radhe which truly makes the atmosphere vibrant.

This event is celebrated on 28th March at Banke Bihari in Vrindavan.

5. Holi in Mathura : After celebrating holi at Banke Bihari in Vrindavan on the same day Holi is celebrated in Mathura as well in Holi procession where tourists participate. The procession starts at Vishram Ghat and get over a little after the Holi Gate. This event takes place in noon at Mathura. In this holi procession few vehicles decorated with flowers and some kids dressed as Radha Krishna which is amazing.

In evening after the street procession is the time for Holika dehan – or burning of the effigy of Holika.

6. Actual celebrations on Holi day in Mathura : This event is takes place on the actual day of holi 29th March in Mathura. On the actual day of Holi, locals and tourists starting gathered at Dwarkadeesh temple in Mathura to enjoy the celebrations of Holi as early in the morning because gats of the temple opens around 10 am and there is already a big crowd outside the gates. Then everyone plays Holi by colors and Priest play Dhols where you can even dance on the beats of Dhol.

Top Reasons to visit Mathura and Vrindavan to celebrate holi festival

In the end, I hope you like my blog. Also I wish you all very happy holi in advance.

8 thoughts on “Top Reasons to visit Mathura and Vrindavan to celebrate holi festival”

Visiting India, for my first trip, during a Holi festival, is intriguing me, however, I’m not sure if this would overwhelm me? This post makes me want to go, really beautiful photos that capture the essence of this Indian festival.

Rahat Arora says:

March 22, 2019 at 12:11 pm

I can only say that celebrating holi festival at Mathura – Vrindavan is the best place to experience this festival and here you will able to experience some of the beautiful events which only took place here.

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