How to do Holika Dahan Puja 2020? Know about ingredients required, process & more; read

Holi is celebrated as the festival of colours. People splash coloured water on each other to celebrate the victory of good over evil. The festival also signifies the beginning of the harvest season. It is celebrated across the country for two days.

The first day is known as Chotti Holi or Holika Dahan. It is believed that all types of fear can be overcome by performing Holika Puja. Chotti Holi is celebrated a day before Holi and this year (2020) it is on March 9.  Read to know more about how to perform Holika Dahan pooja.

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How to do Holika Dahan Puja?

The key ingredients required for the Holi Puja are coconut, rice, beads, water, cow dung, raw cotton thread, moong, and incense sticks. Several people also use the water of holy river Ganga for the puja. Performing the puja at the correct time will help you seek blessings of god while doing puja at the wrong time might be considered inauspicious.

The worshipper should keep all the required ingredients of the puja in a plate along with some water. The person performing the puja must sit facing the north or the east direction and chant the mantras while offering the ingredients. Usually, during the puja, five or seven rounds of cotton yarns are tied to the bonfire. After completing the puja, people seek blessings of their elders and Lord Vishnu.

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Holika Dahan Puja process

• Holika Dahan Puja can be performed at any location
• On the Vasant Panchami day, a log of wood is kept at an open public place
• People extend the log centre with branches of trees, dried leaves, twigs and other flammable material.
• On the day of Holika Dahan, an image of Holika and Prahlad is placed on the huge pile of woods.
• Image of Holika is made of flammable material while Prahlad's image is made of non-flammable material.
• On the eve of Holi, the pile of wood is set on fire and the people chant Rakshoghna Mantras of the Rig Veda to cast away the evil spirits.
• In the next morning, leftover ashes are collected by people. These ashes are considered holy and are tainted on the limbs of the body as Holi Prasad.
• Tainting of body limbs with the ash is considered as an act of purification.

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The shubh muhurat of Holika Dahan this year is said to be from 6:22 pm to 8:49 pm. The Purnima tithi will start at 3:03 am and will end at 11:17 pm on the same day that is Monday, March 9, 2020. Performing the Puja according to the time is important.

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