Hola Mohalla Festival The day after the Holi full moon, set by Guru Gobind Singh in 1701 as a mock battle in place of the throwing of colours: the Panth was to gather at Anandpur Sahib and practise arms, ride, wrestle and hold mock sieges instead.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Hola Mohalla
- हिन्दी
- होला मोहल्ला
- ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
- ਹੋਲਾ ਮਹੱਲਾ
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The day after the Holi full moon, set by Guru Gobind Singh in 1701 as a mock battle in place of the throwing of colours: the Panth was to gather at Anandpur Sahib and practise arms, ride, wrestle and hold mock sieges instead. The Nihang jatha keep it still, with gatka, tent pegging and standing horsemanship down the bed of the Charan Ganga, and the darbar runs three days. The langar is enormous and nobody leaves it unfed.
- Deity
- Guru Gobind Singh
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Chet vadi Pratipada, the day after the Holi Puranmashi, at sunrise; the mohalla, the procession of the Nihangs, closes the last day.
The fast
No fast is kept. The langar of the three days is much of the point of the gathering, and the Nihangs cook and serve it themselves.
Where the regions differ
Anandpur Sahib is the great one and Kiratpur Sahib keeps its own in the days before; the gurdwaras elsewhere keep a smaller diwan. The rest of north India plays the colours the same morning as Dhulandi.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.