Holi Festival and the Impact of Lunar Eclipses on Hindu Traditions

Millions of Hindus worldwide are gearing up for Holi, the festival that transforms entire cities into artistic canvases each spring. Holi—the vernal Hindu festival of colors and love—dates back to the fourth century, marking the end of winter.

But this year, some Hindus will celebrate Holi a little later than usual.

Holi typically falls on Phālguna Pūrṇimā, the late winter full moon in Phālguna, the final month of the traditional Hindu lunar calendar. Since the calendar follows a roughly 28-day cycle, the date of Holi appears to shift each year, but within the Hindu calendar, it remains precisely fixed.

However, this year, some practitioners will postpone festivities until March 4, 2026—a day after the full moon. That’s because this year it coincides with a blood moon, or a total lunar eclipse, an event some Hindus consider ominous. Some Hindus will observe grahana-sutak-kaal, a period of ritual restrictions tied to eclipses, because this year’s eclipse is visible from India. When an eclipse cannot be seen from India, many religious authorities say those restrictions do not need to be observed.

“Extraordinary events like an eclipse, by virtue of sort of breaking normal rhythms, breaking normal patterns, are looked at with suspicion, or sometimes even concern or fear,” says Ariel Glucklich, Georgetown University Theology department chair whose research specializes in Hinduism and classical Indian law.

According to NASA, totality begins March 3 at 11:04 UTC (6:04 a.m. EST) and will end at precisely 12:03 UTC (7:03 a.m. EST, 4:03 a.m. PST). In the hours that follow, the blood moon will slowly but surely fade from view, allowing Hindus across the world to commence their Holi festivities on March 4.

Here’s how the moon’s phase impacts the Hindu holiday and why the lunar cycle is so tied to the community’s celebrations.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes precisely between the sun and the moon, and the moon moves into the Earth’s inner shadow—also known as the umbra. During an eclipse, it's easier for longer wavelengths of light to pierce through Earth’s atmosphere compared to shorter wavelengths, like blue and violet, which scatter swiftly. As a result of this refraction, the moon takes on a reddish-orange hue, giving rise to its more foreboding name—the blood moon.

According to Hindu tradition, the appearance of a blood moon—or of any solar or lunar eclipse, for that matter—initiates a period of spiritual sensitivity. All types of worship, eating, cooking, and celebration are strictly forbidden nine hours before an eclipse and during the eclipse itself.

Eclipses in Hinduism are often viewed as a clash between light and darkness. The belief traces back to the story of Rahu, a demigod, or asura, from ancient Hindu mythology.

During a ceremony described in the Puranic texts, Rahu disguised himself as a deva, or divine being, to drink amrita, the nectar of immortality. When he sat down to take part, the sun and moon deities next to him noticed that something was awry. Before they could alert Mohini, the goddess organizing the ceremony, Rahu had already consumed the elixir and become immortal. The goddess, in retaliation for Rahu’s deceitfulness, sliced off his head with a discus.

“In Hindu astrological texts, including the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, eclipses are framed as interruptions to natural order and patterns,” says Mangala Bühler Rose, a Hindu astrology expert who specializes in muhūrta, the study of auspicious timing. “They obscure our vision of the great luminaries, sun and moon, and are associated with confusion, deception, obsession, impulsivity, shock, and more.”

According to the legend, Rahu intermittently swallows the sun and the moon as a form of cosmic revenge for his ordeal, as they identified his scheme. However, he cannot fully digest either of the celestial bodies since he is just a decapitated head. The sun and moon slink through his throat, causing solar and lunar eclipses.

“As a historian of religion, I have to tell you that the attitude toward eclipses came before the myth of Rahu,” says Glucklich. “The attitudes are primordial and the myth is created to account for it.”

Holi celebrations begin the night before with Holika Dahan, a bonfire ceremony commemorating the myth of Holika, a demon who was burned in a fire. In the story, a young boy named Prahlad miraculously survives due to his unyielding devotion to one of the principal deities in Hinduism—Vishnu. This story also honors the triumph of good over evil, and the celebration of Holi derives its name from Holika.

The following day, celebrants dress in all white, flooding the streets to celebrate Rangwali Holi, tossing powdered dyes of myriad shades called gulal at one another. Cacophony and chaos are both customary and encouraged. The air thickens into a colorful, jubilant fog as families and friends feast on typical foods like gujiya, sweet crescent pastries stuffed with fruit and nuts, and sip on thandai, a spiced milk beverage.

A key feature of Holi, according to Glucklich, is the inversion of Indian society’s caste system. “There’s no Holi without this,” he says.

“The women grab their sticks and they run around the village looking for men, and they beat the men with their sticks. There’s this general abuse of the upper echelons of society. It’s very comical and humorous and a little bit erotic,” Glucklich says.

There’s great diversity in how eclipses are perceived and ritualized in Hindu traditions. Though eclipses are unfavorable for celebrations, they are highly auspicious when it comes to looking inward, such as for meditation or prayer.

“Many devotees will view the eclipse as auspicious, as an opportunity,” Rose said. “They will bathe in sacred waters, congregate to meditate, pray, and chant, and donate to others, as long as spiritually, charity, and worship of divinity take center stage.”