Saturday, March 16, 2013

Fun Freetime: Holi Celebration

Holi is a very popular celebration in India. The story goes that there was once a very cruel king called Hirnakashyah who had a son called Prahlad. Prahlad was very good and always prayed to the god Vishnu, which made his father very angry. The King tried very hard to make his son give up his belief in Vishnu. When Prahlad's sister Holika died while the king was trying to kill Prahlad, Prahlad was so sorry for Holika that he promised to name a festival after her, which became festival of Holi.


Like many other holidays, Holi is now celebrated by people around the world, whether or not they belong to any particular religion or culture. It's often seen as a way to welcome spring, and if you want to participate in this fun tradition, here are some easy ways you can bring some of the excitement of this Festival of Colors to your family! This holiday is usually celebrated the day after the first full moon in India (March 27th this year) but you can celebrate it anytime if your family is getting spring fever!


Start your morning off with a traditional Holi Day beverage! Easy to make (and even more delicious to drink!) 

Ingredients:
2 glasses of whole milk
1 cup water
1 tablespoon blanched almonds
1 tablespoon Pistachios
1 tablespoon Poppy Seeds
6 cashew nuts
Powdered cardamom, Cinnamon, Nutmeg- a pinch each
Honey as per taste 

Method:
Bring the water to boil in a small sauce pan. Add the spices. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Make a fine paste of all the nuts and poppy seeds along with the heated spices. Pour into a strainer lined with a damp cloth and set over a clean bowl. Squeeze all the milk out of the nuts by tightening the cloth by wringing it. You may use the nut pulp for thickening Indian curries or in baking.
Mix this paste with the other spices into the milk and stir well. Mix the honey and chill. Serve in glasses with crushed ice. 

You can also enjoy a fun Holi Day project featured on Crayola's website or create a Festival of Colors cake by adding food coloring to the cake dough (divide the cake dough into several small bowls and then pour into the pan without mixing); or by pouring colored gelatin over a cooked white cake before frosting.

For the evening meal, Tandoor Chef has some great recipes to try:  Lamb Samosas and Spinach and Paneer Pizza for appetizers, a main course of Chicken Curry or Vegetable Pad Thai, and some appropriate wine pairings for the adults.

Finally, try out these traditional Holi Day games:

 Anthakshari: It is a musical game played in group. The word “anth” means “end” and “akshari” means “letter or word”. The game is simple! You can start the game with first two lines of some film songs and others have to continue with last word or letter of that same song.
• Know your neighbors in a minute: This is a very entertaining game where you get to meet all your neighbors and collect information like their name, work, their favorite game and so on. At the end of game each person has to say their neighbor names and details they know. The person who represents more neighbors name and details aptly is declared winner of the game. This is an entertainment game as well as game to know who your neighbor is. Try this game, it works great especially in your apartments.
• Passing the ball: Passing the ball is a simple game where people in the game will sit in circle. When the music starts, pass the ball to next person and when the music ends the person who holds the ball is considered out from the game.
• Musical chair: Musical chair is similar to passing the ball. This common game played by residents in apartments. In this game there will be one chair less than number of people in the game. When music begins all of them move round to chairs and when music ends all of them have to sit in the chairs and the person who stands last goes out from game.
 One minute game: This is a very entertainment game where participants will be given one minute time and they have to complete the given task. For example, balloon blowing. The participants are given one minute time and each has to blow as much as balloon as possible and one who blows more will be the winner.

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