Holi in Varanasi: How to prepare for Holi Festival

Varanasi during the Holi Festival isn’t for the easily spooked, but it’s a memory that’ll stick with me forever. We caught it from all angles – the alleyways, the boat, a nearby village, even through the eyes of an Aghori Monk – and let me tell you, it was bonkers! Ready to dive into the chaotic charm of Holi in Varanasi?

What you need to know about the Holi in Varanasi

What Is Holi?

The Holi Festival date is celebrated on different days each year at the end of winter, on the day after the full moon in March. The night before Holi, on Holika Dahan massive bonfires are set alight to help burn away evil spirits. 

Holi (pronunciation: /ˈhoʊliː/; Sanskrit: होली Holī) is a Hindu spring festival celebrated in India and Nepal, also known as the “festival of colours” or the “festival of love”. It takes place over two days and is a celebration of fertility, colour, and love, as well as the triumph of good versus evil.

The four main powder colours are used to represent different things. Red reflects love and fertility, blue is the colour of Krishna, yellow is the colour of turmeric representing inner purity and pride and green symbolises spring and new beginnings.

How to prepare for Holi in Varanasi

If you’ve not experienced Holi on Indian soil, it’s hard to know what to expect. Holi in Varanasi was my first time and I did not realise the preparation involved, my second Holi in Pushkar I was ready for it! Here are a few handy hints to prepare for your first Festival of Colors experience. 

Remember To Buy Your Colours

Nobody can head into Holi Festival without their own stash of colours to throw around (or at people). Things can get very messy on the day so the street stalls all around the city are doing a roaring trade running up to the big day so be prepared!

Stock Up On Food

Everyone gets involved in the Holi Festival whether it is in the midst of it all or watching from the rooftops so be warned, the shops and restaurants will be shut until around 5 pm. You can head back out later after a shower to dinner.

Protect Against Discolouration

It’s hard to avoid some kind of staining in the aftermath but a little extra protective layer can’t hurt. We covered ourselves in baby oil and don’t forget behind the ears and up the nose, leave no stone unturned.

Cover Your Cameras

You don’t want to miss out on some once-in-a-lifetime shots so ensure you take the extra steps to protect your camera or smartphone. This will involve lots of plastic with tape as you will also get fired at with water pistols. 

What to wear for Holi Festival

If you’ve not experienced Holi on Indian soil, it’s hard to know what to expect so here are my top tips to prepare for the madness of Holi Festival.

Wear A White Outfit

White is the perfect way to display your colours well. Either get an outfit you are happy to dump straight in the bin after the trip or buy a local white kurta for the authentic look.

Ladies, wear an extra layer underneath in case you get soaked with water to avoid the wet T-shirt look!

Wear A Hat Or Scarf

This is not for style, it’s about protecting your hair especially if you have highlights. I bought a wig to cover my hair but this was acquired by a local, I had to resort to a scarf which only covered the top of my head. I came home with blue hair at the bottom, I was told it was cool but the hairdresser had to bleach it out.

Sunglasses Are A Must

Pick up some cheap sunnies on one of the stalls the day before to prepare for Holi in Varanasi. Colours come flying from all angles so this will help protect your eyes. I took mine off for a brief moment and my eyeballs got a blasting.

the Madness of Holi in Varanasi

So we were ready and armed with wigs and powder to throw. Our guides arrived with silver faces looking slightly robotic and scary but we were safe with these guys! We were ambushed from the rooftops, down the side streets, and within our group… so much fun!

We found a crazy party by a temple (that’s where my wig went AWOL). We danced around with the locals till it got a little crazy then made our way to the ghats where our boat was waiting.

The boat took us over to what we thought was the quiet side of the Ganga, how wrong could we be? The villagers were just as crazy about celebrating Holi! We were invited to a party in the garden of a local house and got covered again in more colour by the revellers, we left there and dived into another garden party, ladies only this time, everyone was in such high spirits, I can’t even explain how amazing this was!

|| RELATED READ: UTTARARYAN KITE FESTIVAL IN JAIPUR

Dark encounter with an Aghori Monk

The final chapter of our day got slightly surreal, we had the chance to meet an Aghori Monk, normally reclusive so very hard to get a meeting with and some say to stay away altogether.

Aghori derives from the Sanskrit word “Aghor” which means the absence of darkness and implies a natural state of consciousness where the mind is free of fear and repulsion. They are devoted to Shiva manifested as Bhairava, a powerful Hindu god of death and destruction often ominously referred to as “The Destroyer”.

Aghoris are feared across India but the most respected clan of the Sadhus, the exiled Aghori monks of Varanasi feast on human flesh and reside near cremation sites in search of spiritual enlightenment. So you can understand when we walked into the tent on a remote side of the Ganga where we found human skulls, we felt a little like sh*t just got real!

The Aghori Baba (guru) who came over to see us by boat had a student with him who spoke English so he talked us through his thoughts and beliefs. The Aghoris can recognise negative energy in your face and protect you from evil by chanting mantras.

The Baba found it hard to recognise any pain in our faces due to the colour of the Holi Festival but some of our group came forward to take part in the ritual of removing evil spirits… like I say pretty freakish stuff!

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