Holi Revisited - 90s Nostalgia Theme

We're back with another special episode this week! Since the whole I Should Have Known crew is in India to celebrate Holi, we thought we'd embrace the nostalgia and remaster our season 2 episode on the festival of color! Even if you remember Quizmaster Sups regaling you with his four colorful facts about Holi, the Indian festival of color, we hope you'll enjoy this new cut. Look out for his false fact and play Holi along with hosts Andi and Tanner! 

Transcript

Tanner 0:02

three dudes.

Andi 0:03

these three

Sups 0:03

Sure, okay. I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone. Okay, the three

Tanner 0:07

Oh, okay.

Andi 0:08

I are we all gonna go to India

Sups 0:11

Sure.

Andi 0:12

March?

Tanner 0:12

Yeah.

Sups 0:13

Yeah. Let's celebrate

Andi 0:14

I think we should,

Sups 0:15

think.

Andi 0:17

Yeah. Good to know, I guess. I don't think I want to go to Indian

Sups 0:21

go to Indian

Tanner 0:22

I'll just stick to the milkshake.

Andi 0:24

Hello and welcome to this episode of I Should Have Known, the trivia game show that can't be trusted. Each week our quiz master presents you with four big facts on the topic, but one of those facts is a lie. And this week the whole I should have known crew is in India to celebrate Holy. So in the spirit of nostalgia, we thought it'd be fun to remaster our old episode on holy from season two. So we hope you enjoy and happy holy. Is that and our quiz master today is Supes.

Sups 0:53

Yeah, and Stoops

Andi 0:54

and Supes is going to be presenting us with four facts on the Indian Festival of Color, Holi. Be careful because one of those facts is a lie. So join me, Andy, and our other host, Tanner, in trying to figure out which one it is.

Tanner 1:07

Yeah. Thanks.

Sups 1:08

Perfect.

Andi 1:10

Tanner's vibing over here. Look at him go.

Tanner 1:12

I'm in party mode.

Sups 1:14

Well, it's a shame we don't have any colors to throw

Tanner 1:16

I know. I think

Andi 1:18

thing with the equipment in the studio though? Not really fly

Tanner 1:22

black.

Sups 1:23

have you guys played holy?

Andi 1:25

No.

Tanner 1:25

We have

Andi 1:25

We never have. Nope.

Sups 1:27

I'm guessing you have seen

Tanner 1:28

I have What like.

Andi 1:31

seen people doing it. Yeah.

Tanner 1:33

So they throw Colors at each other. Is it pigment? Is it paint? Is it dust?

Sups 1:37

So, The Hindi word is called gulal and So gulal is basically that powder, which is made from different dyes, you know, in the early days, of course, it was taken naturally from different plants and everything. Of course, nowadays, Different chemicals exist, which lately in India, of course, they are harmful to your skin. So now again, there's movement that you have organic, natural stuff.

Andi 1:59

Yeah.

Tanner 1:59

Gulal, you said?

Sups 2:00

GULAL, G U L A L,

Tanner 2:02

Cool.

Sups 2:03

Okay. So low hanging fruit. traditionally in India. Which month of the year is usually Holi celebrated?

Andi 2:12

Um, I think

Sups 2:14

it's colors.

Andi 2:15

in the spring,

Tanner 2:16

spring. For May? Okay,

Andi 2:18

or May.

Sups 2:19

Okay,

Tanner 2:19

had to

Sups 2:20

Okay. You just had to go one back. It's always in

Tanner 2:23

March.

Andi 2:24

Okay,

Sups 2:25

because in Hindu calendar, that's when the spring starts. so it's the celebration of the end of the winter.

Andi 2:32

Okay.

Sups 2:32

I used to really, like it. And I was also really afraid of play because you know, just just you go out on the streets and random people are just like throwing colors at you. but the other part is that in March, I used to have exams. So oftentimes, uh, Yeah, I was not allowed because I had to be studying all day so I couldn't go out and play. And Holi is a very unique festival in a way because I think it's one of the few festivals that's actually celebrated across India because, you know, it's a land of so much diversity and we have like regional festivals. There are only few like national festival. So one form or the other, every region in India, they celebrate it. it is celebrated in the month called Phalgun, according to the Hindu calendar. Alright, so, are we ready for some facts?

Andi 3:20

let's get it.

Sups 3:21

Alright, fact number one, Holi is actually associated with fire rather than color. So this will us back to the origin of Holi. Why do we celebrate Holi? so also for people who don't know, I think this is a great context. Holi literally means burning. There used to be an evil King called Hiranyakashyapu. He was angry that his brother was killed by Lord Vishnu, who was Part of the trio Vishnu, Brahma, Mahesh, like the three dudes who are the protector of universe according to Hindu

Tanner 4:03

The three dudes.

Andi 4:05

these three

Sups 4:06

Sure, okay. I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone. Okay, the three

Tanner 4:10

Oh, okay.

Andi 4:11

I just like, I love the way that You put it. The three dudes who protect everyone,

Sups 4:15

yeah, yeah So, Vishnu, his job is to preserve life and death in the universe and the evil king. he wanted, to kill Vishnu because, you know, he killed his brother. he started praying, And finally he was granted a boon that he is invincible. That nobody can kill

Tanner 4:33

Whoa.

Sups 4:34

Okay. So with that, you know, power went inside his head and to his entire kingdom, he went and said that, Hey, Stop praying to all the other gods from now on, you only pray to

Tanner 4:46

me Uhhuh.

Sups 4:47

but then there's a catch. He had a young son called Prahlad and Prahlad was an ardent devotee of Vishnu. He wouldn't pray to his father. So this evil king got like really mad that, Hey. Why are you not praying to me, son? What's wrong with you? And, the son said, no, no, I'm only going to be praying to Vishnu. So the king said that the son had to die. There's no other way. And he tried like many different things to Kill his own son, but he couldn't find a way to kill it. Okay.

Andi 5:18

Okay.

Sups 5:19

So then he reached out to his sister for help. The name of the sister was Holika.

Tanner 5:25

Holika

Sups 5:26

also had a boon that she could not burn, like she is immune to fire. So the evil king, he came out with a strategy that he's going to make a pyre and he's going to light it up and he's going to send, his sister. And Prahlad, and he'll just burn it up. And then because she's immune to fire and Prahlad will die. That was his master plan. She lit the fire. And of course, because Prahlad was a devotee of Vishnu, Vishnu came and saved him. So the sister who had a boon was burned to ashes. And Prahlad survived. this festival in essence means, good winning, over evil.

Tanner 6:03

And this

Sups 6:03

holy, there's a festival that lasts two days. so this is day one, which is called holy God done where people light up huge bonfires and they're praying around, you know, they're celebrating around that. Okay. Finally, the evil is Dead and the good wins and the second day is called the Rangwali Holi which is when they play with Colors, so that's why Holika which literally means burning and that's where the word Holi comes

Tanner 6:29

Yeah, There it is. Wow. It's like

Andi 6:31

That's Hindu.

Sups 6:32

mythology 101 right there

Andi 6:34

It makes a lot of sense because we think of it as like powder, but I imagine it probably started related. It was

Tanner 6:41

If you burned

Andi 6:43

a bunch of stuff. You have a bunch of ash, throw it on everyone. that makes much more sense. Like why because it is kind of a weird thing. Like what are these powders? Do we, have we always had them? Like, what, what is this?

Tanner 6:55

And I mean, historically it connects too because a lot of old paints and pigments come from burnt things. Right. This makes total sense

Andi 7:03

Yeah, Yeah, So then here I don't think soups may have that story.

Tanner 7:07

that's a great

Andi 7:08

great have anything to do with holy? I. guess I could see how fire and color could eventually become associated, you know, fire itself is fairly, like, variegated, like, you know, two.

Sups 7:20

Okay. All right. So day two, takes us to fact number two. the colors in Holi festival symbolizes equality.

Andi 7:30

Okay.

Sups 7:31

So, the other myth that's associated with, Holi, is to do with Lord Krishna. his love of his life, she was called Radha. Now the thing about Lord Krishna is that his skin color was blue

Tanner 7:45

Oh, yeah.

Sups 7:46

and he was very embarrassed about it. and you know, as compared to Radha, who was this fair skinned, woman. so he felt really embarrassed. Right. So his mother, Lord Krishna's mother suggested that he smudge some colors into Radha's skin so that they Look the same And of course, that's totally okay, because he's a god,

Andi 8:07

Yeah. Yeah. you're a god, they let you do these

Sups 8:10

exactly. And so, and so Holi became a way for Indian men and women, to mingle by putting color on each other's bodies,

Andi 8:20

Okay.

Sups 8:21

And so these colors, when you smudge it in everyone's body, everyone now looks the same because you have different colors. So irrespective of your caste, creed, color, you all look the same. And that's what these colors, symbolize that everyone looks the same, right? Once, they play holy and that's it. Yeah. Yeah.

Tanner 8:42

I like that, Instead of saying that you're like colorblind, like you don't see differences in color, like, no, I'm colorful

Sups 8:48

Yeah.

Andi 8:48

I see all color. Yeah, that's interesting. Interesting. And that makes sense. You're literally covering your skin. and, if I'm not mistaken, like, you just go out in the streets and people are like playing in the streets. Yeah So like I can kind of see where like the equality thing comes because if you're just going in the street And you're throwing this on everybody. I mean, I guess theoretically like you don't know Who you're throwing if it's if it's allowed that like anyone can throw this on anybody That's kind of saying a lot, you know, especially like even more so like back in the day

Sups 9:17

So that brings us to fact number three. Cannabis is made legal in India during Holi.

Tanner 9:25

They can do that? Wow. Wow. Wow. That's one way to celebrate.

Sups 9:29

during Holi, one of the most popular drink is called Thandai. Thandai basically means to cool off and it's, basically a milkshake that is a mixture of almonds, cardamom, fennel seeds, rose petals, peppercorns, poppy seeds, saffron, and milk. along with Bhang, which is this traditional Indian green colored paste of the young leaves, flowers and stems from the cannabis plant.

Andi 10:01

Oh! Bhang

Sups 10:02

has a lot of historical and religious Uh, connections especially to Hindu religion. and especially during holy, because Pang is connected with Lord Shiva,

Andi 10:13

we're just getting all the gods in here,

Sups 10:16

And so the government, they make it legal to be available during the Falun month when India celebrates chivalry. Which is like end of February. Shivratri is basically a day celebrating Lord Shiva and up until Holi, which is, the start of the spring, but only for this period, it's totally okay. You can actually, there are government owned, punk shops, that you can go and buy,

Tanner 10:41

Huh, milkshake sounds delicious.

Sups 10:43

amazing.

Andi 10:44

I do not like milky things. Yeah. Okay. But I like literally everything that went into that. I've never tried Pong. I don't know if I'd like that, but okay.

Sups 10:51

that gives the cake in that

Andi 10:54

Okay, but I like the peppercorns and the rose and the cardamom,

Sups 10:58

Yes. I mean, this is one thing that you have to try it in your life.

Andi 11:02

are we all gonna go to India

Sups 11:04

Sure.

Andi 11:05

March?

Tanner 11:05

Yeah.

Sups 11:06

Yeah. Let's celebrate

Andi 11:07

I think we should,

Sups 11:08

think. I think yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Tanner 11:11

What is it called? Tandai?

Sups 11:12

Tandai. Tandai.

Andi 11:13

So I wanna ask, getting back to the fact, yes. so Pong, you're talking about how cannabis is legal. Is it only legal in this form or can you like light up a joint in India during this month? so

Sups 11:24

I mean, it's available, no one, stops you.

Tanner 11:26

Purchasing anything of this plant.

Andi 11:28

So like, I think, you different from drinking a milkshake with it. So like, that's what I was asking. It's only legal as Pong, but other forms of consumption are still not allowed. they just decriminalize it all for this month.

Sups 11:41

just

Andi 11:42

Wow. feel like I would have heard more white people getting excited about that, if that was real.

Sups 11:48

because you have to also understand that you don't only use in Tandai, you can use it, you know, for a lot of other purposes. You don't necessarily have to. I mean, it's known to be used in Tandai because that's like the main use, but you can just tablets anywhere from the shop and consume it in other form as

Andi 12:06

Yeah. Yeah. But, okay. That's kind I was wondering though, because like that's a traditional thing. Yeah. It's very different I think from the relationship with cannabis and like Europe or in the US right? So like,

Sups 12:17

plant is very historical and has, you know, a lot of connections to India. I

Tanner 12:21

Mm

Andi 12:22

sure. it's a plant. Yeah.

Tanner 12:24

Interesting.

Andi 12:25

That's surprising.

Tanner 12:26

I have a lot more questions now if that's true, you know? Like, do they tax it then? Can you, is it legal to grow? But then only for that month, so you have to like kill your plants every other month of the year? Like, how does that work?

Andi 12:39

Yeah. I don't know, but I could see like, this is a traditional drink and a thing. People want to be able to practice their traditions without worrying about going to jail. idea. that's why I was asking like, yeah, foreigners can't come in here and just be like, you know, like just smoking or eating or whatever they're doing. Yeah.

Tanner 12:55

they're

Andi 12:56

This rule only applies to people doing the traditional, but I don't know.

Tanner 12:59

Hmm.

Sups 13:00

But, you know, if you're taking part in the Holi Festival, no one's stopping you from drinking Thandai, right? So you can just go. Yeah.

Tanner 13:06

Right. Hmm.

Andi 13:08

Okay, so we have One

Sups 13:10

One more fact. Yeah, Fact number four. Holi is also a public holiday in Guyana and Suriname.

Tanner 13:18

All the way over in South America. Yes.

Andi 13:20

Yeah, wow.

Tanner 13:21

That is hard to believe.

Sups 13:24

so East Indians arrived in Guyana from 1838 They were brought there to work in the sugar plantations, by our dear friends, the British. because, slavery, was banned in 1834. So the British had to find a new way, a new system to, you know, repackage slavery. So you know what they did? They called them laborers or apprentice. So They just. Yeah. Yeah. well, no, the conditions were still the same. Right. So, but you know, they just, rebranded, the coal concept and transported them from all the way from this state called Bihar, which is in east of India, which is also where holy super popular. And so that's where majority of them came for and they started working in the sugar plantations, because the British also took Indians to a lot of other countries like Mauritius, Fiji, and, you know, everywhere else, but in Caribbean, these two countries, so, of course, they stayed and they, you know, now it's like one of the biggest communities there, and their Holi is actually called Fagwa, which is connected with the month Falgun. So, and, it's a national holiday and they celebrate it by going to the national stadium in Guyana in Georgetown It's actually one of the biggest, cultural events of the country.

Andi 14:38

Interesting.

Tanner 14:39

the story makes sense Kind of a side note. I just interviewed for my other podcast, uh, a medical student from the Caribbean who I of Guyanese descent, and her family is Indian. Yeah. So I, I had just heard about this. There's many Indian people who live in the Caribbean. Specifically in Guyana,

Andi 14:57

idea. I'm, I was just And like around Carnival, like I know in like Trinidad, there's a community there

Sups 15:03

Yeah.

Andi 15:03

Do they have an unofficially recognized

Tanner 15:06

Mm-Hmm. And also the connection with Surinam as

Sups 15:08

Yeah, Yeah. they went to different. So Guyana and Suriname were the countries where you'll find the biggest presence. Of course, you'll also find them in Jamaica, Trinidad, like the entire Caribbean, but these two countries where I would say the

Andi 15:21

Yeah, because one was British and

Tanner 15:23

wasn't it a Dutch

Andi 15:24

Dutch, yeah. and the French still somehow have their Guyana. It's, it's still theirs and not enough people think that's weird.

Tanner 15:33

weird.

Sups 15:33

Okay, so those were my four facts about Holi, the

Andi 15:37

the Yeah, that was great. it was super cool, learned a lot of things. Apparently every god is involved, but it's not religious somehow. Okay, this is going to be hard work though to figure out the lies. So can you repeat the four facts about Holi and then Tanner and I will, guess,

Sups 15:54

Okay. All right. So fact number one, Holi is actually associated with fire Fact number two, the colors in Holi festival symbolizes equality. Fact number three, cannabis is made legal during Holi. And finally, fact number four, Holi is also a public holiday in Guyana and Suriname.

Tanner 16:25

Oh man. That's not easy.

Andi 16:27

No. So, what I'm thinking is that I'm going to avoid one and two. Because when you start talking about symbolism and cultural history and these kinds of things, It's hard to even say true or false. So like I definitely think you can just play with the fact of like no, it's about color like duh I mean, but like otherwise it's like I don't know how I could have known. Yeah, so i'm not gonna touch

Tanner 16:49

those, Right. I can see some possibilities where the lies could be. but maybe the other ones are easier to

Andi 16:54

Yeah, that's a lie. yeah, yeah So my thinking is it's one of the last two, and I'm really leaning towards three. This just sounds fishy.

Tanner 17:04

You don't think that the cannabis is legal for that month?

Andi 17:06

No.

Tanner 17:07

Do you think

Andi 17:08

That's, that whole policy sounds like a nightmare to instate maybe it's decriminalized, maybe it's like a kind of an understanding of like, you're not gonna get arrested for it during this time, it's not enforced, But the idea that you actually make it legal. For just one month seems like a logistical nightmare think I think maybe it's that It's lax.

Tanner 17:32

That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, okay. And I think it's the last one because I think that while they probably have, lot of people from India, of Indian descent. And so I think that they celebrate these, but I think maybe it's not an official public bank holiday sort of

Andi 17:48

Yeah. that does make sense that it wouldn't be like a full, yeah, like St. Patrick's Day or like these kinds of cultural holidays, which are not really Halloween.

Tanner 18:00

you don't get a day off of work

Andi 18:01

a day off work.

Tanner 18:04

Yeah, So I think number four.

Andi 18:06

Okay. So we're in agreement. Don't touch one and two.

Tanner 18:09

I

Sups 18:09

like those. too much. Good, good, That you didn't touch one and two, because they are true. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I think because both of them are the original, You know, it's mythology, right? But that is what is widely, it's got to do with Hiranyakashipu. That's a very cool story. I love that story. and Krishna, I mean, because this is celebrated, Holi is very more popular in North India than in South and in the North in his Dwarka. This is, I think it's also for listeners. Probably never been to India. This is one of the things that you should experience holy there.

Andi 18:42

Google have you actually been?

Sups 18:45

not in Dwarka per se, but, but that's also one of the things that I really want to do as well.

Tanner 18:49

March Yeah. Book our tickets

Andi 18:52

You know, I'm not, you know, you can't say that. I

Sups 18:55

I mean, it's for me going back to India and we've been talking about planning a trip to India and the

Tanner 19:00

the

Sups 19:00

like since forever. So Yeah. sure. Sounds good. Okay. Um, fact number three. Yeah. I are absolutely right. Uh, and I think the reason is that I think you, were talking about it when we were discussing the fact and I didn't want to delve into it too much. Bang technically is legal. Always 12 months a year. You can buy bang anytime because from cannabis you also get weed, right? Which is ganja. basically, Bhang is the paste which is derived from grinding cannabis leaves and stems together, while ganja or weed is more potent and made from dried flower buds of the plant. And so ganja and hash. are banned. but Bhang, as I said, there are government owned Bhang shops. So you can buy, yeah, of course, during Holi, sure. But also you can go any other time by and enjoy Bhang.

Tanner 19:50

It must be that the THC is in the

Andi 19:53

It's in the, Yeah.

Tanner 19:54

In the

Sups 19:55

Yeah. I mean, Pong is also intoxicating. You're going to get high. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Andi 19:59

like you can't just like, you can't just smoke a J in the street. You're going to get hit. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. So it's, legal all the time. This one

Sups 20:09

Yeah. Yes. But Ganja or Hashish, no. Um, Yeah. But I think if any member of the government they're listening to this episode, I think it's time they should amend this law. Like, You know, yeah.

Andi 20:20

Yeah. Good to know, I guess. I don't think I want to go to Indian

Sups 20:23

go to Indian

Tanner 20:25

I'll just stick to the milkshake. It's fine.

Andi 20:26

Yeah, That sounds good. What was it called again? Tandai. Tandai. Tandai, and then you throw your gulal

Sups 20:32

throw your

Andi 20:33

and I learned so many words today.

Sups 20:35

Yeah. Awesome. Well,

Andi 20:37

Well, thank you so much, and I should have known. I thanks for listening to this episode of the I Should Have Known Podcast. and if you are a listener on Spotify, please leave us a five star rating. And as always, thanks for listening.

Sups 20:52

let's say he was very famous. with the women folk.