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Holi

Holi is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent of India and Nepal, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora.

Holi also celebrates the arrival of Spring in India and Nepal, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love. It is also an invocation for a good spring harvest season. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (full moon day) falling on the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna, which falls around the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar.

Names
Holi (होली, હોળી, ಹೋಳಿ, होळी, होली, ਹੋਲੀ, హోళి) is also known as Dol Jatra (swing festival") and Bôshonto Utshôb (বসন্ত উৎসব) ("spring festival") in Bengal (West Bengal and Bangladesh), Phakua (ফাকুৱা) and Dôl Jātrā (দ’ল যাত্ৰা) in Assam, Phāgu Pūrṇimā (फागु पूर्णिमा) in the hilly region of Nepal, Dola jātra (ଦୋଳଯାତ୍ରା) in Odisha, Fagua or Phagua (फगुआ) in eastern Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, and northeastern Jharkhand, Phagwah (Caribbean Hindustani: पगवा) in the Caribbean (namely Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica), and Phagua  in Fiji.

The main day of the celebration is known as "Holi", "Rangwali Holi", "Dol Purnima", "Dhuleti", "Dhulandi", "Ukuli", "Manjal Kuli", "Yaosang", "Shigmo", "Phagwah", or "Jajiri".

Description
Holi is a sacred ancient tradition of Hindus, a holiday in many states of India and Nepal with regional holidays in other countries. It is a cultural celebration that gives Hindus and non-Hindus alike an opportunity to have fun banter with other people by throwing coloured water and powder at each other. It is also observed broadly on the Indian subcontinent. Holi is celebrated at the end of winter, on the last full moon day of the Hindu luni-solar calendar month, marking the spring, making the date vary with the lunar cycle. The date falls typically in March, but sometimes late February of the Gregorian calendar.

The festival has many purposes; most prominently, it celebrates the beginning of Spring. In 17th century literature, it was identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests, and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time to enjoying spring's abundant colours and say farewell to winter. To many Hindus, Holi festivities mark an occasion to reset and renew ruptured relationships, end conflicts, and rid themselves of accumulated emotional impurities from the past.

It also has a religious purpose, symbolically signified by the legend of Holika. The night before Holi, bonfires are lit in a ceremony known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Little Holi. People gather near fires, sing and dance. The next day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, or Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated.

In Northern parts of India, children and youth spray coloured powder solutions (gulal) at each other, laugh, and celebrate, while adults smear dry coloured powder (abir) on each other's faces. Visitors to homes are first teased with colours, then served with Holi delicacies (such as gujia, shakkarpaare, matri, and dahi-bada), desserts and drinks. After playing with colours, and cleaning up, people bathe, put on clean clothes, and visit friends and family.

Like Holika Dahan, Kama Dahanam is celebrated in some parts of India. The festival of colours in these parts is called Rangapanchami, and occurs on the fifth day after Poornima (full moon).

History
The Holi festival is an ancient Hindu festival with its own cultural rituals which emerged before the Gupta period. The festival of colours finds mentioned in numerous scriptures, such as in works like Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras with even more detailed descriptions in ancient texts like the Narada Purana and Bhavishya Purana. The festival of "holikotsav" was also mentioned in the 7th century work, Ratnavali, by King Harsha. It is mentioned in the Puranas, Dasakumara Charita by Daṇḍin, and by the poet Kālidāsa during the 4th century reign of Chandragupta II.

The celebration of Holi is also mentioned in the 7th-century Sanskrit drama Ratnavali. The festival of Holi caught the fascination of European traders and British colonial staff by the 17th century. Various old editions of the Oxford English Dictionary mention it, but with varying, phonetically derived spellings: Houly (1687), Hooly (1698), Huli (1789), Hohlee (1809), Hoolee (1825), and Holi in editions published after 1910.

Radha Krishna
In the Braj region of India, where the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated until Rang Panchmi in commemoration of their divine love for each other. The festivities officially usher in spring, with Holi celebrated as a festival of love. Garga Samhita, a puranic work by Sage Garga was the first work of literature to mention the romantic description of Radha and Krishna playing Holi. There is also a popular symbolic legend behind the festival. In his youth, Krishna despaired whether the fair-skinned Radha would like him because of his dark skin colour. His mother Yashoda, tired of his desperation, asks him to approach Radha and ask her to colour his face in any colour she wanted. This Radha did, and Radha and Krishna became a couple. Ever since, the playful colouring of Radha and Krishna's faces has been commemorated as Holi. Beyond India, these legends help to explain the significance of Holi (Phagwah), which is common in some Caribbean communities of Indian origin such as Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. It is also celebrated with great fervour in Mauritius, Fiji, and South Africa.

Vishnu
There is a symbolic legend found in the 7th chapter of the Bhagavata Purana  explaining why Holi is celebrated as a festival of triumph of good over evil in the honour of Hindu god Vishnu and his devotee Prahlada. King Hiranyakashipu, the father of Prahlada, was the king of demonic Asuras and had earned a boon that gave him five special powers: he could be killed by neither a human being nor an animal, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither at day nor at night, neither by astra (projectile weapons) nor by any shastra (handheld weapons), and neither on land nor in water or air. Hiranyakashipu grew arrogant, thought he was God, and demanded that everyone worship only him. Hiranyakashipu's own son, Prahlada, however, remained devoted to Vishnu. This infuriated Hiranyakashipu. He subjected Prahlada to cruel punishments, none of which affected the boy or his resolve to do what he thought was right. Finally, Holika, Prahlada's evil aunt, tricked him into sitting on a pyre with her. Holika was wearing a cloak that made her immune to injury from fire, while Prahlada was not. As the fire spread, the cloak flew from Holika and encased Prahlada, who survived while Holika burned. Vishnu, the god who appears as an avatar to restore Dharma in Hindu beliefs, took the form of Narasimha – half human and half lion (which is neither a human nor an animal), at dusk (when it was neither day nor night), took Hiranyakashyapu at a doorstep (which was neither indoors nor outdoors), placed him on his lap (which was neither land, water nor air), and then eviscerated and killed the king with his lion claws (which were neither a handheld weapon nor a launched weapon).

The Holika bonfire and Holi signifies the celebration of the symbolic victory of good over evil, of Prahlada over Hiranyakashipu, and of the fire that burned Holika.

Kama and Rati
Among other Hindu traditions such as Shaivism and Shaktism, the legendary significance of Holi is linked to Shiva in yoga and deep meditation. Goddess Parvati wanting to bring Shiva back into the world, seeks help from the Hindu god of love called Kamadeva on Vasant Panchami. The love god shoots arrows at Shiva, the yogi opens his third eye and burns Kama to ashes. This upsets both Kama's wife Rati (Kamadevi) and his own wife Parvati. Rati performs her own meditative asceticism for forty days, upon which Shiva understands, forgives out of compassion and restores the god of love. This return of the god of love, is celebrated on the 40th day after the Vasant Panchami festival as Holi. The Kama legend and its significance to Holi has many variant forms, particularly in South India.

Cultural significance
The Holi festival has a cultural significance among various Hindu traditions of the Indian subcontinent. It is the festive day to end and rid oneself of past errors, to end conflicts by meeting others, a day to forget and forgive. People pay or forgive debts, as well as deal anew with those in their lives. Holi also marks the start of spring, an occasion for people to enjoy the changing seasons and make new friends.

Holi is of particular significance in the Braj region, which includes locations traditionally associated with Radha Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandgaon, Barsana and Gokula which become touristic during the season of Holi.

Outside India and Nepal, Holi is observed by Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as in countries with large diaspora populations from India around the world. The Holi rituals and customs can vary with local adaptations.

Other Indian religions
The festival has traditionally been also observed by non-Hindus, such as by Jains (Nepal).

In Mughal India, Holi was celebrated with such exuberance that people of all castes could throw colour on the Emperor. According to Sharma (2017), "there are several paintings of Mughal emperors celebrating Holi". Grand celebrations of Holi were held at the Lal Qila, where the festival was also known as Eid-e-gulaabi or Aab-e-Pashi. Mehfils were held throughout the walled city of Delhi with aristocrats and traders alike participating. This changed during the rule of Emperor Aurangzeb. He banned the public celebration of Holi using a Farman issue in November 1665. However, the celebration were later restarted after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb. Bahadur Shah Zafar himself wrote a song for the festival, while poets such as Amir Khusrau, Ibrahim Raskhan, Nazeer Akbarabadi and Mehjoor Lakhnavi relished it in their writings.

Sikhs have traditionally celebrated the festival, at least through the 19th century, with its historic texts referring to it as Hola. Guru Gobind Singh – the last human guru of the Sikhs – modified Holi with a three-day Hola Mohalla extension festival of martial arts. The extension started the day after the Holi festival in Anandpur Sahib, where Sikh soldiers would train in mock battles, compete in horsemanship, athletics, archery and military exercises.

Holi was observed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his Sikh Empire that extended across what are now northern parts of India and Pakistan. According to a report by Tribune India, Sikh court records state that 300 mounds of colours were used in 1837 by Ranjit Singh and his officials in Lahore. Ranjit Singh would celebrate Holi with others in the Bilawal gardens, where decorative tents were set up. In 1837, Sir Henry Fane who was the commander-in-chief of the British Indian army joined the Holi celebrations organised by Ranjit Singh. A mural in the Lahore Fort was sponsored by Ranjit Singh and it showed the Hindu god Krishna playing Holi with gopis. After the death of Ranjit Singh, his Sikh sons and others continued to play Holi every year with colours and lavish festivities. The colonial British officials joined these celebrations.

Holika Dahan
The night before Holi is called Holika Dahan or "Chhoti Holi" whereby people gather around a lit bonfire, symbolising the victory of good over evil as well as the removal of the old and arrival of the new. Various rituals are performed around the fire such as singing and dancing. This ritual is derived from the story of Holika, who attempted to kill Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakashipu, through the flames of a bonfire. Although Holika was endowed with a boon to remain immune to fire, she was burned to ashes, while Prahlada remained unharmed.

Main day
The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi (Dhuleti) where people smear and drench each other with colours. Water guns and water-filled balloons are often used to play and colour each other, with anyone and any place being considered fair game to colour. Groups often carry drums and other musical instruments going from place to place, singing and dancing. Throughout the day, people visit family, and friends and foes come together to chat, enjoy food and drinks, and partake in Holi delicacies. Holi is also a festival of forgiveness and new starts, which ritually aims to generate harmony in society. Many cities in Uttar Pradesh also organise Kavi sammelan in the evening.

Groups sing and dance, some playing drums and dholak. After each stop of fun and play with colours, people offer gujiya, mathri, malpuas and other traditional delicacies. Cold drinks, including drinks made with marijuana, are also part of the Holi festivity.

Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand
Holi is known as Phaguwa or Fagua in the Bhojpuri language. In this region as well, the legend of Holika is prevalent. On the eve of Phalgun Poornima, people light bonfires. They put dried cow dung cakes, wood of the Araad or Redi tree and Holika tree, grains from the fresh harvest and unwanted wood leaves in the bonfire. At the time of Holika people assemble near the pyre. The eldest member of the gathering or a purohit initiates the lighting. He then smears others with colour as a mark of greeting. Next day the festival is celebrated with colours and a lot of frolic. Traditionally, people also clean their houses to mark the festival.

Holi Milan is also observed in Bihar, where family members and well-wishers visit each other's family, apply colours (abeer) on each other's faces, and on feet, if elderly. Usually, this takes place on the evening of Holi, day after Holi with wet colours is played in the morning through the afternoon. Due to large-scale internal migration issues faced by the people, recently, this tradition has slowly begun to transform, and it is common to have Holi Milan on an entirely different day either before or after the actual day of Holi.

Children and youths take extreme delight in the festival. Though the festival is usually celebrated with colours, in some places, people also enjoy celebrating Holi with water solutions of mud or clay. Folk songs are sung at high pitch and people dance to the sound of the dholak (a two-headed hand-drum) and the spirit of Holi. Intoxicating bhang, made from cannabis, milk and spices, is consumed with a variety of mouth-watering delicacies, such as pakoras and thandai, to enhance the mood of the festival.

In the Kanpur, Holi lasts for seven days. On the last day, a fair called Ganga Mela or the Holi Mela is celebrated. The fair was started by freedom fighters who fought British rule.

In Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, a special event called "Holi Milan" is celebrated.

Goa
Holi is locally called Ukkuli in Konkani. It is celebrated around the Konkani temple called Gosripuram temple. It is a part of the Goan or Konkani spring festival known as Śigmo or शिगमो in Koṅkaṇī or Śiśirotsava, which lasts for about a month. The colour festival or Holi is a part of longer, more extensive spring festival celebrations. Holi festivities (but not Śigmo festivities) include: Holika Puja and Dahan, Dhulvad or Dhuli vandan, Haldune or offering yellow and saffron colour or Gulal to the deity.

Gujarat
In Gujarat, Holi is a two-day festival. On the evening of the first day, a bonfire is lit and raw coconut and corn is offered to the fire. The second day is the festival of colour or "Dhuleti", celebrated by sprinkling coloured water and applying colours to each other. Dwarka, a coastal city of Gujarat, celebrates Holi at the Dwarkadhish temple with citywide music festivities. Holi marks the agricultural season of the rabi crop.

In some places, there is a custom in undivided Hindu families that the woman beats her brother-in-law with a sari rolled up into a rope in a mock rage and tries to drench him with colours, and in turn, the brother-in-law brings sweets (Indian desserts) to her in the evening.

Jammu and Kashmir
In Jammu and Kashmir, Holi celebrations are much in line with the general definition of Holi celebrations: a high-spirited festival to mark the beginning of the harvesting of the summer crop, with the throwing of coloured water and powder and singing and dancing.

Karnataka
Traditionally, in rural Karnataka, children collect money and wood in the weeks prior to Holi, and on "Kamadahana" night, all the wood is put together and lit. The festival is celebrated for two days. People in northern parts of Karnataka prepare special food on this day.

In Sirsi, Karnataka, Holi is celebrated with a unique folk dance called "Bedara Vesha", which is performed during the nights beginning five days before the actual festival day. The festival is celebrated every alternate year in the town, which attracts a large number of tourists from different parts of India.

Maharashtra
In Maharashtra, Holi Purnima is also celebrated as Shimga, festivities that last five to seven days. A week before the festival, youngsters go around the community, collecting firewood and money. On the day of Shimga, the firewood is heaped into a huge pile in each neighbourhood. In the evening, the fire is lit. Every household brings a meal and dessert, in the honour of the fire god. Puran Poli is the main delicacy and children shout "Holi re Holi puranachi poli". Shimga celebrates the elimination of all evil. The colour celebrations here take place on the day of Rang Panchami, five days after Shimga. During this festival, people are supposed to forget and forgive any rivalries and start new healthy relations with all.

Manipur
Manipuris celebrate Holi for 6 days. Here, this holiday merges with the festival of Yaosang. Traditionally, the festival commences with the burning of a thatched hut of hay and twigs. Young children go from house to house to collect money, locally known as nakadeng (or nakatheng), as gifts on the first two days. The youths at night perform a group folk dance called Thabal chongba on the full moon night of Lamta (Phalgun), traditionally accompanied by folk songs and rhythmic beats of the indigenous drum, but nowadays by modern bands and fluorescent lamps. In Krishna temples, devotees sing devotional songs, perform dances and celebrate with aber (gulal) wearing traditional white and yellow turbans. On the last day of the festival, large processions are taken out to the main Krishna temple near Imphal where several cultural activities are held. In recent decades, Yaosang, a type of Indian sport, has become common in many places of the valley, where people of all ages come out to participate in a number of sports that are somewhat altered for the holiday.

Odisha
The people of Odisha celebrate Dola or Pushpadola on the day of Holi where the icons of Jagannath replace the icons of Krishna and Radha. Dola Melana, processions of the deities are celebrated in villages and bhoga is offered to the deities. "Dola yatra" was prevalent even before 1560 much before Holi was started where the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra used to be taken to the "Dolamandapa" (podium in Jagannath temple). People used to offer natural colours known as "abira" to the deities and apply on each other's feats.

Punjab
In Punjab, the eight days preceding Holi are known as luhatak. Sekhon (2000) states that people start throwing colours many days before Holi.

Holi is preceded by Holika Dahan the night before when a fire is lit. Historically, the Lubana community of Punjab celebrated holi "with great pomp and show. The Lubanas buried a pice and betel nut. They heaped up cow-dung cakes over the spot and made a large fire. When the fire had burnt out, they proceeded to hunt for the pice and betel-nut. Whosoever found these, was considered very lucky." Elsewhere in Punjab, Holi was also associated with making fools of others. Bose writing in Cultural Anthropology: And Other Essays in 1929 noted that "the custom of playing Holi-fools is prevalent in Punjab".

On the day of Holi, people engage in throwing colours on each other. For locals, Holi marks the end of winter. The Punjabi saying Phaggan phal laggan (Phagun is the month for fructifying) exemplifies the seasonal aspect of Holi. Trees and plants start blossoming from the day of Basant and start bearing fruit by Holi.

During Holi in Punjab, walls and courtyards of rural houses are enhanced with drawings and paintings similar to rangoli in South India, mandana in Rajasthan, and rural arts in other parts of India. This art is known as chowk-poorana or chowkpurana in Punjab and is given shape by the peasant women of the state. In courtyards, this art is drawn using a piece of cloth. The art includes drawing tree motifs, flowers, ferns, creepers, plants, peacocks, palanquins, geometric patterns along with vertical, horizontal and oblique lines. These arts add to the festive atmosphere.

Folk theatrical performances known as swang or nautanki take place during Holi, with the latter originating in the Punjab. According to Self (1993), Holi fairs are held in the Punjab which may go on for many days. Bose (1961) states that "in some parts of Punjab, Holi is celebrated with wrestling matches".

Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu, it is associated with the Panguni Uthiram festival that signifies the wedding of various Hindu deities. Temples celebrate the weddings of Parvati and Shiva, Murugan and Devasena, Rama and Sita, and Andal and Ranganatha on this day. Devotees throng to temples to witness the ritual wedding ceremonies. Rati and Kamadeva are worshipped in many regions.

Telangana
Holi is called as Kamuni Punnami/Kama Purnima or Jajiri in Telugu. Hindus celebrate Holi as it relates to the legend of Kamadeva. Holi is also known by different names: Kamavilas, Kamuni Panduga and Kama-Dahanam.

It is a 10-day festival in Telangana, of which last two days are of great importance. As in other parts of India, in rural Telangana, the 9 days preceding Holi, children celebrate kamuda by playing Kolata sticks along with singing folk songs called jajiri and collect money, rice, corn and wood. For this reason Holi is well known for "Jajiri Paatalu Kamudi aatalu", which means festival of "Jajiri songs and Kamudi games" and on 9th night i.e. Holy eve, all the wood is put together and set on fire representing Kama Dahanam.

Next morning i.e. 10th day is celebrated as Holi, with colours traditionally extracted from Moduga/Gogu Flowers (Palash/Butea monosperma).

Tripura
In Tripura Holi is known as "Pali" which means colour in Tripuri language, it's celebrated all over Tripura.

Western Uttar Pradesh
Barsana, a town near Mathura in the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh, celebrates Lathmar Holi in the sprawling compound of the Radha Rani Temple. Thousands gather to witness the Lath Mar Holi when women beat up men with sticks as those on the sidelines become hysterical, sing Holi songs and shout "Radhe Radhe" or "Sri Radhe Krishna". The Holi songs of Braj Mandal are sung in pure Braj, the local language. Holi celebrated at Barsana is unique in the sense that here women chase men away with sticks. Males also sing provocative songs in a bid to invite the attention of women. Women then go on the offensive and use long staves called lathis to beat the men, who protect themselves with shields.

Mathura, in the Braj region, is the birthplace of Krishna. In Vrindavan this day is celebrated with special puja and the traditional custom of worshipping Radha Krishna; here the festival lasts for sixteen days. All over the Braj region and neighbouring places like Hathras, Aligarh, and Agra, Holi is celebrated in more or less the same way as in Mathura, Vrindavan and Barsana.

A traditional celebration includes Matki Phod, similar to Dahi Handi in Maharashtra and Gujarat during Krishna Janmashtami, both in the memory of god Krishna who is also called makhan chor (literally, butter thief). This is a historic tradition of the Braj region as well as the western region of India. An earthen pot filled with butter or other milk products is hung high by a rope. Groups of boys and men climb on each other's shoulders to form pyramids to reach and break it, while girls and women sing songs and throw coloured water on the pyramid to distract them and make their job harder. This ritual sport continues in Hindu diaspora communities.

Uttarakhand
Kumaoni Holi in Uttarakhand includes a musical affair. It takes different forms such as the Baithki Holi, the Khari Holi and the Mahila Holi. In Baithki Holi and Khari Holi, people sing songs with a touch of melody, fun, and spiritualism. These songs are essentially based on classical ragas. Baithki Holi (बैठकी होली), also known as Nirvan Ki Holi, begins from the premises of temples, where Holiyars (होल्यार) sing Holi songs and people gather to participate, along with playing classical music. The songs are sung in a particular sequence depending on the time of day; for instance, at noon the songs are based on Peelu, Bhimpalasi and Sarang ragas, while evening songs are based on the ragas such as Kalyan, Shyamkalyan and Yaman. The Khari Holi (खड़ी होली) is mostly celebrated in the rural areas of Kumaon. The songs of the Khari Holi are sung by the people, who, sporting traditional white churidar payajama and kurta, dance in groups to the tune of ethnic musical instruments such as the dhol and hurka.

In the Kumaon region, the Holika pyre, known as Cheer (चीर), is ceremonially built in a ceremony known as Cheer Bandhan (चीर बंधन) fifteen days before Dulhendi. The Cheer is a bonfire with a green Paiya tree branch in the middle. The Cheer of every village and neighbourhood is rigorously guarded as rival mohallas try to playfully steal each other's cheer.

The colours used on Holi are derived from natural sources. Dulhendi, known as Charadi (छरड़ी) (from Chharad (छरड़)), is made from flower extracts, ash and water. Holi is celebrated with great gusto much in the same way all across North India.

West Bengal
In West Bengal, the tradition of Dol Jatra (meaning Swing procession) or Dolotsava (meaning Swing Festival) or Dol Purnima - (Swing Full Moon) is common among Gaudiya Vaishnavs just like among Vaishnavs in Braj region and other Krishna centric sampradays all over India. However, several Bengali Vaishnava padavalis also use the term Holi (Bangla : হোলী) for the festival.

In Shantiniketan, West Bengal, Holi is additionally also known as "Basanta Utsab". The festival is celebrated by worshipping the icons of Radha and Krishna by placing them on a decorated swing. On the Dol Purnima day in the early morning, students (mainly in Shantiniketan) dress up in saffron-coloured or pure white clothes and wear garlands of fragrant flowers. They sing and dance to the accompaniment of musical instruments, such as the ektara, dubri, and veena. The devotees take turns to swing them while women dance around the swing and sing songs. During these activities, the people keep throwing coloured water and dry colours, abir, at them.

Around 500 years ago, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Vrindavan in present day Uttar Pradesh to witness the festival there at the birthplace of Lord Sri Krishna. After his return to Bengal, he thought of starting the festival here. So he asked his followers to smear color or abir to Lord Krishna's idol and then put that abir on each other. He also instructed them to give the other person a treat with a local sweet called malpoa. The biographies of Sri Chaitanya say that he was very fond of this sweet.

Nepal
Holi, also known as Phagu Purnima, along with many other Hindu festivals, is celebrated in Nepal as a national festival. It is an important major Nepal-wide festival along with Dashain and Tihar (Dipawali). It is celebrated in the Nepali month of Falgun (Terai region celebrates on the same date as Indian Holi, while rest of the country celebrates it a day earlier), and signifies the legends of the Hindu god Krishna. They worship Saraswati shrine in Vajrayogini temples and celebrate the festival with their Hindu friends.

Traditional concerts are held in most cities in Nepal, including Kathmandu, Narayangarh, Pokhara, Itahari, Hetauda, and Dharan, and are broadcast on television with various celebrity guests.

People walk through their neighbourhoods to celebrate Holi by exchanging colours and spraying coloured water on one another. A popular activity is the throwing of water balloons at one another, sometimes called lola (meaning water balloon). Many people mix bhang (made from cannabis, milk and spices) in their drinks and food, as is also done during Shivaratri. It is believed that the combination of different colours at this festival takes all sorrow away and makes life itself more colourful.

Pakistan
Holi is celebrated by the minority Hindu population in Pakistan. Community events by Hindus have been reported by Pakistani media in various cities such as Karachi, Hazara, Rawalpindi, Sindh, Hyderabad, Multan and Lahore. The Hindu tribes of Cholistan in the Punjab province of Pakistan play the game called Khido in the days leading up to the Holi. The game Khido is considered sacred by them as it is believed that Parhlad used to play this game during his childhood.

Holi was not a public holiday in Pakistan from 1947 to 2016. Holi along with Diwali for Hindus, and Easter for Christians, was adopted as public holiday resolution by Pakistan's parliament in 2016, giving the local governments and public institutions the right to declare Holi as a holiday and grant leave for its minority communities, for the first time. This decision has been controversial, with some Pakistanis welcoming the decision, while others criticising it, with the concern that declaring Holi a public holiday advertises a Hindu festival to Pakistani children.

Indian diaspora
Over the years, Holi has become an important festival in many regions wherever Indian diaspora were either taken as indentured labourers during colonial era, or where they emigrated on their own, and are now present in large numbers such as in Africa, North America, Europe, Latin America, and parts of Asia such as Fiji.

Suriname
Holi is a national holiday in Suriname. It is called Phagwa festival, and is celebrated to mark the beginning of spring and Hindu mythology. In Suriname, Holi Phagwa is a festival of colour. It is customary to wear old white clothes on this day, be prepared to get them dirty and join in the colour throwing excitement and party.

Trinidad and Tobago
Phagwa is celebrated with a lot of colour and splendour, along with the singing on traditional Phagwah songs such as Chowtal and new songs such as Pichakaree. Holika Dahan is celebrated the night before Phagwah. A Castor plant is planted in a ceremonial manner along with the chanting of mantras in honour of Holi, and is called a Holika. On this day, many temples in the Indo-Caribbean community also do Pujas in honour of Radha Krishna, Saraswati, Vishnu, Lakshmi, and the temples patron deity.

Guyana
Phagwah is a public holiday in Guyana, and peoples of all races and religions participate in the celebrations. The main celebration in Georgetown is held at the Mandir in Prashad Nagar.

Fiji
Indo-Fijians celebrate Holi or Pagua as its called in Fiji Hindi, as the festival of colours, folksongs, and dances. The folksongs sung in Fiji during Holi season are called phaag gaaian. Phagan, also written as Phalgan, is the last month of the Hindu calendar. Holi is celebrated on the full moon of Phagan. Holi marks the advent of spring and ripening of crops in Northern India. Not only it is a season of romance and excitement, folk songs and dances, it is also an occasion of playing with powder, perfumes, and colours. Many of the Holi songs in Fiji are around the theme of love-relationship between Radha and Krishna.

Mauritius
Holi in Mauritius comes close on the heels of Shivaratri. It celebrates the beginning of spring, commemorating good harvests and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colours and saying farewell to winter. It is considered one of the most exhilarating religious holidays in existence. During this event, participants hold a bonfire, throw coloured powder at each other, and celebrate wildly.

United States
Holi is celebrated in many US states by mainly Asian Americans, particularly those with Indian ancestry. It is usually hosted in Hindu temples or cultural halls. Members of Hindu associations and volunteers assist in hosting the event along with temple devotees. Some of the places known to celebrate Holi are New Brunswick (NJ), Spanish Fork (Utah), Houston (TX), Dallas (TX), South El Monte (CA), Milpitas (CA), Mountain House (CA), Tracy (CA), Lathrop (CA), Chicago (IL), Potomac (MD), Tampa (FL), Sterling (VA), and Boston (MA).

Indonesia
In Indonesia, Indian Indonesians and Balinese Hindu people celebrate Holi as festival of colours. The main celebrations are in Medan and Bali.

Sometimes the Indian immigrants from other countries may also celebrate a small-scale version of Holi.

Traditional sources of colours
The spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause viral fever and cold. The playful throwing of natural coloured powders, called gulal has a medicinal significance: the colours are traditionally made of palash, neem, kumkum, haldi, bilva, and other medicinal herbs suggested by Āyurvedic doctors.

Many colours are obtained by mixing primary colours. Artisans produce and sell many of the colours from natural sources in dry powder form, in weeks and months preceding Holi. Some of the traditional natural plant-based sources of colours are:

Orange and red
The flowers of palash or tesu tree, also called the flame of the forest, are typical source of bright red and deep orange colours. Powdered fragrant red sandalwood, dried hibiscus flowers, madder tree, radish, and pomegranate are alternate sources and shades of red. Mixing lime with turmeric powder creates an alternate source of orange powder, as does boiling saffron (kesar) in water.

Green
Mehendi and dried leaves of gulmohur tree offer a source of green colour. In some areas, the leaves of spring crops and herbs have been used as a source of green pigment.

Yellow
Haldi (turmeric) powder is the typical source of yellow colour. Sometimes this is mixed with chickpea (gram) or other flour to get the right shade. Bael fruit, amaltas, species of chrysanthemums, and species of marigold are alternate sources of yellow.

Blue
Indigo plant, Indian berries, species of grapes, blue hibiscus, and jacaranda flowers are traditional sources of blue colour for Holi.

Magenta and purple
Beetroot is the traditional source of magenta and purple colour. Often these are directly boiled in water to prepare coloured water.

Brown
Dried tea leaves offer a source of brown coloured water. Certain clays are alternate source of brown.

Black
Species of grapes, fruits of amla (gooseberry) and vegetable carbon (charcoal) offer grey to black colours.

Health impact
A 2007 study found that malachite green, a synthetic bluish-green dye used in some colours during Holi festival, was responsible for severe eye irritation in Delhi, if eyes were not washed upon exposure. Though the study found that the pigment did not penetrate through the cornea, malachite green is of concern and needs further study.

Another 2009 study reports that some colours produced and sold in India contain metal-based industrial dyes, causing an increase in skin problems to some people in the days following Holi. These colours are produced in India, particularly by small informal businesses, without any quality checks and are sold freely in the market. The colours are sold without labelling, and the consumer lacks information about the source of the colours, their contents, and possible toxic effects. In recent years, several non-governmental organisations have started campaigning for safe practices related to the use of colours. Some are producing and marketing ranges of safer colours derived from natural sources such as vegetables and flowers.

These reports have galvanised a number of groups into promoting more natural celebrations of Holi. Development Alternatives, Delhi's CLEAN India campaign, Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group, Pune, Society for Child Development through its Avacayam Cooperative Campaign have launched campaigns to help children learn to make their own colours for Holi from safer, natural ingredients. Meanwhile, some commercial companies such as the National Botanical Research Institute have begun to market "herbal" dyes, though these are substantially more expensive than the dangerous alternatives. However, it may be noted that many parts of rural India have always resorted to natural colours (and other parts of festivities more than colours) due to availability.

In urban areas, some people wear nose masks and sunglasses to avoid inhaling pigments and to prevent chemical exposure to eyes.

Environmental impact
An alleged environmental issue related to the celebration of Holi is the traditional Holika bonfire, which is believed to contribute to deforestation. According to a local tabloid, 30,000 bonfires burn every year during Holi, with each fire burning approximately 100 kg of wood.

The use of heavy metal-based pigments during Holi is also reported to cause temporary wastewater pollution, with the water systems recovering to pre-festival levels within 5 days.

Influence on other cultures
Holi is celebrated as a social event in parts of the United States. For example, at Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, NYC Holi Hai in Manhattan, New York and Festival of Colors: Holi NYC in New York City, New York,

Holi-inspired events
A number of Holi-inspired social events have also surfaced, particularly in Europe and the United States, often organised by companies as for-profit or charity events with paid admission, and with varying scheduling that does not coincide with the actual Holi festival. These have included Holi-inspired music festivals such as the Festival Of Colours Tour and Holi One (which feature timed throws of Holi powder), and 5K run franchises such as The Color Run, Holi Run and Color Me Rad, in which participants are doused with the powder at per-kilometre checkpoints. The BiH Color Festival is a Holi-inspired electronic music festival held annually in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In recent years, schools across Australia have also adopted Holi inspired fund raising activities which leverage fundraising platforms such as Australian Fundraising, School Fun Run, Colour Frenzy and Go Raise It Australia to conduct such events. New Zealand schools have also followed the trend with holi powder Colour Run fundraisers run by local company Go Raise It NZ.

There have been concerns that these events appropriate and trivialise aspects of Holi for commercial gain—downplaying or completely ignoring the cultural and spiritual roots of the celebration. Organisers of these events have argued that the costs are to cover various key aspects of their events, such as safe colour powders, safety and security, and entertainment.

title: Holi


text:
Láadan

Láadan is a gynocentric constructed language created by Suzette Haden Elgin in 1982 to test the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, specifically to determine if development of a language aimed at expressing the views of women would shape a culture; a subsidiary hypothesis was that Western natural languages may be better suited for expressing the views of men than women. The language was included in her science fiction Native Tongue series. Láadan contains a number of words that are used to make unambiguous statements that include how one feels about what one is saying. According to Elgin, this is designed to counter male-centered language's limitations on women, who are forced to respond "I know I said that, but I meant this".

Tones
Láadan is a tonal language. It utilises two distinct tones: The word "Láadan" has three syllables: "lá-" with the short vowel /a/ plus high tone; "-a" with the short vowel /a/ and no tone; and "-dan".
 * lo – or, a short, medium or low tone, represented by a single unmarked vowel
 * ló –, a short, high tone, represented by a single marked vowel

Láadan doesn't allow any double [i.e. long] phonemes. Whenever two identical short vowels would occur side by side in a single morpheme, one of them has to be marked for high tone. When adding an affix would result in two identical vowels side by side, an epenthetic /h/ is inserted to prevent the forbidden sequence. The language will allow either máa or maá, but not *maa. These combinations can be described as: (Some people analyze these tone sequences as tonemic as well, for a total of four tones.)
 * loó –, a long, low-rising tone, represented by a double vowel, the second of which is marked
 * lóo –, a long, high-falling tone, represented by a double vowel, the first of which is marked

Elgin preferred an analysis of the language as having no long vowels and a single tone, the high tone (distinguished from "neutral, baseline pitch"), but she acknowledged that linguists using other formalisms would be justified in saying that there are two tones, high and low (or unmarked or mid).

Vowels
Láadan has five vowels:
 * a –, an open back unrounded vowel (as English calm),
 * e –, an open-mid front unrounded vowel (as English bell),
 * i –, a near-close near-front unrounded vowel (as English bit),
 * o –, a close-mid back rounded vowel (as English home),
 * u –, a close back rounded vowel (as English boon).

Consonants
Láadan lacks the consonants. It uses b, d, sh, m, n, l, r, w, y , h with the same phonetic value as English. Three digraphs require further explanation:
 * th –, a voiceless dental fricative (always as in English think, never as then),
 * zh –, a voiced postalveolar fricative (as English pleasure),
 * lh –, a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (as Welsh llan).

Grammar
Most Láadan sentences contain three particles:

 * The speech-act particle – this occurs at the beginning of the sentence and marks it as either a statement (bíi), a question (báa), et cetera; in connected speech or writing, this particle is often omitted. They are:
 * Bíi : Indicates a declarative sentence (usually optional)
 * Báa : Indicates a question
 * Bó : Indicates a command; very rare, except to small children
 * Bóo : Indicates a request; this is the usual imperative/"command" form
 * Bé : Indicates a promise
 * Bée : Indicates a warning
 * The grammatical tense particle – this occurs second in the sentence and marks it as either present tense (ril), past tense (eril), future tense (aril) or hypothetical (wil); without the tense particle, the sentence is assumed to have the same tense as the previous sentence.
 * The evidence particle – this occurs at the end of statements and indicates the trustworthiness of the statement. They are:
 * wa : Known to speaker because perceived by speaker, externally or internally
 * wi : Known to speaker because self-evident
 * we : Perceived by speaker in a dream
 * wáa : Assumed true by speaker because speaker trusts source
 * waá : Assumed false by speaker because speaker distrusts source; if evil intent by the source is also assumed, the form is waálh
 * wo : Imagined or invented by speaker, hypothetical
 * wóo : Used to indicate that the speaker states a total lack of knowledge as to the validity of the matter

Láadan is a verb–subject–object (VSO) language. Verbs and adjectives are interchangeable. There are no articles, and the object is marked by the -th or -eth suffix. The plural number is shown only by the me- prefix to the verb. The particle ra following a verb makes it negative. Separate clauses are joined by the particle hé.

 OBJ:object REQ:request ST

Morphology
Láadan has an agglutinative morphology, and uses a number of affixes to indicate various feelings and moods that many natural languages can only indicate by tone of voice, body language or circumlocution.

The speech-act particle, at the beginning of a sentence, can also carry several suffixes, which expand on the overall state of the sentence. For example, bíi begins a statement, but bíide begins a statement that is part of a narrative; bóoth begins a request made in pain; báada begins a question that is meant in jest.

Pronouns
Pronouns in Láadan are built up from a number of constituent parts. The consonant l marks the first person, n the second person and b the third person. Usually, these are followed by the vowel e. The vowel a is used to designate someone who is loved (lhe- is prefixed to describe someone who is despised). The suffix -zh is used to mark a plural pronoun for numbers up to four, and -n for numbers beyond that. Therefore, lazh means "we, several beloved", and lheben means "they, many despised".

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Láadan


text:
Backhoe

A backhoe—also called rear actor or back actor—is a type of excavating equipment, or excavator, consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. It is typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader, the latter forming a "backhoe loader" (a US term, but known as a "JCB" in Ireland and the UK). The section of the arm closest to the vehicle is known as the boom, while the section that carries the bucket is known as the dipper (or dipper-stick), both terms derived from steam shovels. The boom, which is the long piece of the backhoe arm attached to the tractor through a pivot called the king-post, is located closest to the cab. It allows the arm to pivot left and right, typically through a range of 180 to 200 degrees, and also enables lifting and lowering movements.

Description

The term "backhoe" refers to the action of the bucket, not its location on the vehicle. That is, a backhoe digs by drawing earth backwards, rather than lifting it with a forward motion like a person shovelling, a steam shovel, or a bulldozer. The buckets on some backhoes may be reconfigured facing forward, making them "hoes".

A tractor-loader backhoe (TLB)  is a tractor-like vehicle with a backhoe at the rear, a front loader on the other and a swivelling seat to position the operator facing whichever direction is needed at the time. In North America, this arrangement is often referred to as simply a backhoe, or when on a chassis originally derived from farm tractors, a tractor-loader backhoe. To differentiate, a backhoe on its own dedicated chassis may then be referred to as an excavator.

Backhoe loaders can be designed and manufactured from the start as such, or can be the result of a farm tractor equipped with a front end loader (FEL) and rear backhoe. Though similar looking, the purpose-designed backhoe loaders are much stronger, with the farm variation unsuitable for heavy work.

With the advent of hydraulic powered attachments such as a tiltrotator, breaker, a grapple or an auger, the backhoe is frequently used in many applications other than excavation and with the tiltrotator attachment serves as an effective tool carrier. Many backhoes feature quick coupler (quick-attach) mounting systems for simplified attachment mounting, dramatically increasing the machine's utilization on the job site. Backhoes are usually employed together with loaders and bulldozers. Excavators that use a backhoe are sometimes called "trackhoes" by people who do not realize the name is due to the action of the bucket, not its location on a backhoe loader.

Backhoe loaders are general-purpose tools, and are being displaced to some extent by multiple specialist tools like the excavator and the speciality front-end loader, especially with the rise of the mini-excavator. On many job sites which would have previously seen a backhoe used, a skid-steer loader and a mini excavator will be used in conjunction to fill the backhoe's role. However, backhoes are still in general use. The difference between the backhoe and the skid-steer loader, are that the backhoe has attachments back and front, where as the skid-steer loader only has front attachments, however, the attachment versatility on a skid-steer loader is much greater.

Sometimes a backhoe bucket is reversed to work in a power shovel configuration.

Sometimes a backhoe arm is used as a crane, by slinging the lifted object from the support linkages behind the scoop (advisably not from the teeth, preferably from a hook welded on a bucket, quick coupler or tiltrotator).

Origins

The backhoe swing frame was invented in 1947 by Vaino (pronounced "Waino") J. Holopainen and Roy E. Handy Jr. The swing frame "allowed the hydraulic digging arm to swing to the side to dump the bucket under US patent # 2,698,697". In April 1948 Wain-Roy Corporation sold the first hydraulic backhoe, mounted to a Ford Model 8N tractor, to the Connecticut Light and Power Company for $705.

The first tractor-loader backhoe was a Wain-Roy backhoe mounted to a Frank G. Hough model "HE" in 1952 in Holden, Massachusetts, US, for the Holden Water Department. The F.G. Hough Company was a subsidiary of the International Harvester Company. By early 1954, two Hough "Payloader" model wheel loaders, the HE and the HF, were available with Wain-Roy backhoes. In 1954 the Wain-Roy Corporation negotiated a deal with IH for the Hough TLB full-scale production on several other models of Hough loaders.

In the same year, JCB launched the first European hydraulic loader, followed by a backhoe with a 180° slew, fitted to a tractor, in 1953. In 1957, Case developed the first integrated tractor backhoe loader at the Case New Holland plant in Burlington, Vermont, helping contractors complete their work more efficiently.

JCB introduced the first dedicated backhoe loader, incorporating the excavator and the major loader in a single, all-purpose tool.

In 1960, Vaino Holopainen was introduced as "Mr. Backhoe" to Henry Ford II. Wain-Roy continued to produce them for Ford until 1963, when Ford started making their own. Wain-Roy Corporation later bought the AC Anderson Company. Although the Wain-Roy Corporation no longer exists, the Wain-Roy product line of backhoe attachments and couplers is still available through the Woods Equipment Company of Rockford, Illinois, US. In 1965, Kelly G. Cunningham used the 7.6 Gravely Tractor to create the Terramite Model 1 compact backhoe, known as the T1.

Because of the long-time predominance of the JCB marque in the United Kingdom and Ireland, it has become a genericized trademark there, and backhoe-equipped diggers are commonly called JCBs, while the term "backhoe" as an excavator component is almost unknown to the general public in this context. The founder of the JCB company, Joseph Cyril Bamford, is the only Briton to be honored in the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame.

Backhoe fade
"Backhoe fade" or "JCB fade" is a term coined by the telecommunications field to refer to accidental damage or complete severing of a communications cable by a backhoe or similar construction activity.

The term is a play on other types of signal loss, especially on wireless networks. Most of these cause a reduction in the signal, such as rain fade. A cable subjected to "backhoe fade" is instead a sudden and initially inexplicable loss of signal experienced when a cable is accidentally dug up and damaged or cut.

Notable manufacturers

 * Case CE, United States (subsidiary of CNH, Netherlands)
 * Caterpillar Inc., United States
 * Deere & Company, United States
 * Ford Motor Company, United States
 * Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe), Netherlands (subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery, Japan)
 * Hydrema, Denmark
 * JCB, United Kingdom
 * Komatsu, Japan
 * Kubota, Japan
 * LiuGong, China
 * Massey Ferguson, United States (subsidiary of AGCO, United States)
 * Mecalac, France (backhoes manufactured by former Fermec unit in Coventry, England. Acquired from Terex in 2016)
 * New Holland Construction, Italy
 * Volvo Construction Equipment, Sweden (subsidiary of Volvo, Sweden)
 * XCMG, China

title: Backhoe


text:
Template talk:Provinces and territories of Canada

I felt it would be easier to follow with the names spelled out. This involved some re-arrangement for visual aesthetics. Brooklyn Nellie 06:30, Feb 26, 2004 (UTC)

Flags too much
I have removed the flags because I seriously believe they make the template way too big. Not only is it the only footer template with them (Consistency anyone?), but it is also unnecessarily bigger than similar templates that manage to have much more links like africa, algeria and becomes as big as United States, which is a bit ridiculous. Circeus 14:53, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * The provincial and territorial flags appear on each province/territory's page. They may be pretty, but they do make the template big, so I do not see the need for them here. Why flags and not coats of arms, provincial flowers, provincial birds, pictures of the premiers, or provincial mottoes? Ground Zero 15:05, 15 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, m'y main question is "Why images at all". I see no need to differenciate this template from countless [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Countries/Templates/Navbox

Please cite the references in Wikipedia guidelines that "entitle" you to do whatever you want. There are several editors who have stated their cases for removing the flags -- oversizing of the template, redunancy with informatin on the linked pages, consistency with other templates, clutter, why flags over other symbols. You are the only editor so far in favour of keeping them, and you have provided little in the way of explanation, other than that you like them. you are behaving arbitrarily and aggressively. Please wait until this is resolved on this talk page before you revert again. Ground Zero 19:24, 15 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The flags are a good inclusion, as they enhance the template significantly. Astrotrain 18:14, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * So having expressed your preference, instead of waiting until the issue has been settled here on the talk page, you've just decided to go ahead and revert. User:Circeus, User:Stormscape and I agree with the deletion, and so far, you, alone, are opposed. I'll just undo your work to give other members of the community a chance to weigh in. If other active editors (no sock puppets, please) are in favour of keeping the flags, then we'll put them back in. Ground Zero 18:19, 15 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The flags were already there, so I am entitled to revert to what they were for several months. Astrotrain 19:01, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

 * I should add that this argument fallacious, consifering you originally added the flags in the first place. Circeus 20:16, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

When you added them in April, you made the template completely unreadable until another user fixed it by lining everything up. --Stormscape 08:18, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Without responding to any of the concerns that I, Stormscape or Circeus have raised, Astrotrain has imposed the flags again. Her/His behaviour suggests that s/he is determined to have his/her way without regard to what other editors think. Pity. This sort of behaviour brings Wikipedia down. Ground Zero 02:10, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

At WikiProject Countries/Templates/Navboxes, ther

Consensus for text-only links
I believe it's pretty clear that there is a consensus for text-only links for this template (as opposed to the flags version.
 * For text-only: WikiProject Countries/Footers standard, NormanEinstein, DoubleBlue, Kurieeto, Circeus, Stormscape, SimonP, Ground Zero, Joshuapaquin, and Mendel.
 * For flags: Astrotrain.

Double Blue (Talk) 22:34, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * The only consensus was for the flag version with 20px images. There is no consensus for a text only version, given the definition of consensus is "agreement as a whole". In any case, some of the people you have listed have not commented on this matter as far as I can see. Astrotrain 15:20, July 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * The 20px version was an attempt at a compromise that no one (including you and me) preferred and was continually reverted to either 50px or 30px. That does not indicate consensus to me. Double Blue  (Talk) 15:42, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * And who, exactly, are you speaking of, Astrotrain? Please indicate which users you believe have been misrepresented in DoubleBlue's sorting.  -Joshuapaquin 17:53, July 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, I think I reverted it to no flags at some point... Circeus
 * From reading here, and looking at the template, I have to agree, having flags in the template is not a good idea. Just the flag of Canada in the corner is good enough. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 20:33, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

So what do we do about Astrotrain, who incomprehensibly insists on violating the consensus decision? Is there an administrative solution? -Joshuapaquin 17:10, July 31, 2005 (UTC)
 * Considering there is little risk of additional provinces being created in the near future, I say we get the template protected.
 * Obviously there is no consensus- although there was one previously for a short time. Perhaps you should look to see the definition of consensus- I am sure it means the same in Canda as it does elsewhere. Astrotrain 17:48, July 31, 2005 (UTC)
 * Resolving disputes. Astrotrain, Would you accept the decision of a formal survey? If not, a RfC may be in order.  Double Blue  (Talk) 18:19, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

STOP REVERTING YOU STUPID TARDARSE --Stormscape
 * No personal attacks, please. As for the 11-1 (11 including me) not being consensus, I personally believe that is false. If 11 people want to do something, and one opposes, then Wikipedia sides with the 11. However, I do not think an RFC should be issued, now. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 23:29, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Consensus confirms that unanimity is not required to achieve a consensus on Wikipedia. Earlier today I provided Astrotrain with this link on his/her talk page. Kurieeto 00:13, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

20px flag version

 * How about going back to the 20px version with flags- this was the position before and was generally accepted. I cannot see comments by 11 people opposing flags. The extra information provided by the inclusion of the flags significantly improves the articles on which the template is placed, and gives an extra link to the flag pages of the respective provinces/territories. The information is not replecated elsewhere, and placing it on the template at the bottom of the page is an excellent way of presenting the information. Remember that Wikiepdia is an encyclopedia- providing information is the purpose of articles- and a flag version of this template goes someway to achieving this. I am perplexed by the opposition by a tiny few against the flag enhanced template- it works well on other templates such as the UK, Channel Islands and several military templates. Astrotrain 10:27, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Honestly, I proposed that version two weeks ago in a futile attempt to stop the revert warring. Since it didn't work, we might as well have it out and pick the best version of the template. I think it does more harm than good to have the flags on this template for links to the provinces of Canada. It clutters it unnecessarily and each province's article should already have a picture of its flag. If the flags version belongs anywhere, it belongs on CanadaFlags, where the information in question is flags. My vote is no flags. Double Blue  (Talk) 12:21, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * So far, every flag proposal has looked terrible. Had I seen an appealing example of a flags-enhanced template, I'd support it.  That hasn't happened.  So my vote is for no flags. -Joshuapaquin 15:27, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * No flags. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 17:39, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Ok, you want a reason, here you go: In templates, if an image is used in the templates, it gets copied to the various articles the templates are on. If one image gets changed, all of those pages will be updated to reflect the change. It will cause the servers to work hard to change the images, thus causing problems for people trying to edit the pages. And if all of the provincial flag images were changed, we would be in trouble. Plus, several templates and stubs are starting to go to no images because of the above problems. Also, if people would want to see what each provincial flag looks like, they can go to the article of the province in question. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 19:48, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't think the images will be getting changed. Unless the actual flags are to be changed- which is unlikely. Astrotrain 20:17, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * The images are not going to change because of the design of the flags will change but because of finding new drawings of the flags in new formats. There is a proposal to add SVG images to Wikipedia. Plus, I have been going around and trying to upload new flags to Wikipedia under new names. If, we have the flags in the template, that just makes it that much harder to do my job. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 20:51, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

These are not good enough reasons for being against flags. Astrotrain 19:19, August 2, 2005 (UTC) My vote is for no flags. I reiterate my comments of July 19: "I believe the inclusion of flags of any size is unnecessary and overall detrimental to this template. The flags visually complicate an otherwise simple, effective footer. The intent of footers is to facilitate speedy navigation between related articles, and the flags break up the wikilinks too much. Ground Zero's comment that "At Wikipedia:WikiProject Countries/Templates/Navboxes, there are 100 (± 2 or 3) geographical and country subdivision templates. Of these, 99 do not have flags of the listed places on them." is also extremely important as visual consistency is one of the prime strengths of readability Wikipedia has." Kurieeto 20:09, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Excuse me? I don't think your reasons for favouring flags are "good enough".  But in a vote, that's totally irrelevant. -Joshuapaquin 19:25, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * I have justified the inclusion of flags- your response is "I don't like", the response usually taken by the average three year old. If you can't justify why you are deleting relevant images, then perhaps you should refrain from imposing your likes on the Wiki community. Astrotrain 19:50, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Interesting comment from someone who removed city pictures from Canada because he didn't like them. Double Blue  (Talk) 20:44, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Never mind the irony of you chiding me for "imposing... likes on the Wiki community". But if you want a more verbose justification, here it is:  I belive that all proposed revisions to the template that include flags have been aesthetically disastrous and have reduced the efficiency of the template as a navigation mechanism. -Joshuapaquin 20:47, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

 * Many of these templates do not have flags- because either there is no uploaded flags for these areas, or they don't have flags to begin with. As Canada, has a wide range of regional flags, it is important for them to be highlighted. They do not impact on the ability of a user to navigate between the pages. Astrotrain 20:17, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * All one has to do is go to FOTW and download them. Plus, with some of the military templates I see you mentioned: only three links are provided. Three links and three flags are not really a problem. But Canada is four times more provincines and territories, so that will be a problem in the template size. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 20:23, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Why don't we add maps, pic of current premiers, provincial flower, date of entry into Confederation, and population to the template as well. It's not the job of the template. This template is only a navigational aid. The articles can contain the flag pictures. Double Blue  (Talk) 20:41, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Because flags are used to represent countries, provincies and territories- they are instantly recognisable, and visually appealing. We have the flags of the Canadian regions- lets use them! Astrotrain 22:32, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Instantly recognizeable? I didn't even know we had flags for the provinces! --Stormscape 22:55, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Well it just shows even the ignorant can learn something
 * I'd certainly prefer Stormscape's ignorance to Astrotrain's bigotry. -Joshuapaquin 12:01, August 3, 2005 (UTC)

August 2 revert
I reverted the template because an image of a penis being masturbated was inserted. Also, the Canadian flag was vandalized with an image of a penis covered in defication. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 04:22, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

Flags, again
Based on the discussion above, the vote on putting flags in the template is:

In favour:
 * 1) Astrotrain

Opposed:
 * 1) Circeus
 * 2) Ground Zero
 * 3) Stormscape
 * 4) DoubleBlue
 * 5) Kurieeto
 * 6) NormanEinstein
 * 7) Joshuapaquin
 * 8) Mendel
 * 9) Zscout370
 * 10) Tobias Conradi (Talk) 01:51, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
 * the flags are contrary to the WikiProject Countries/Templates/Navboxes standard.

So why would User:Astrotrain put the flags back in? Ground Zero 21:06, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

 * obviously, for it to be reversed! Circeus 21:08, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

 * SimonP has never contributed to any discussion I have seen, so how he can be opposed I don't know. And pages cannot vote. In any case, Wikipedia is not a democracy From, Wikipedia is not an experiment in democracy. Its primary method of finding consensus is discussion, not voting. That is, majority opinion does not necessarily rule in Wikipedia Astrotrain 21:13, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

 * My mistake about SimonP. I have deleted his name. You're right: Wikipedia is not a democracy, but votes are used to help determine consensus, on which Wikipedia attempts to operate. For example in Votes for deletion, votes are used as the basis for decisions, and administrators generally delete if there is a two-thirds vote to delete. In this case, there is a 90% vote against the flags, and the flags conflict with Wikipedia standards for footers.

 * So why do you think that the views of nine other editors should be cast aside in deference to yours? Ground Zero 21:21, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

As I already stated, there is no standard for footers- they can be made however people like. In this case compromise was reached and then breached by you- so don't lecture others on how to behave. Astrotrain 21:27, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

 * Not quite. A 20 px compromise was proposed. I and a couple of others went along with it, but you didn't. You changed the flags back to larger versions, as the Template history shows. At this point, a consensus was reached not to include the flags at all, and DoubleBlue removed the flags. Only at that point did you decide to accept the 20px version. And the compromise that you now claim was reached and then breached is not what you've posted now. You posted 50 px flags, which bear no relation to any compromise or consensus, just what you, and you alone, want.

 * As far as standards, I disagree. As I have noted before, of the 100 or so geographic footers, only two or three have subnational flags, and then only because you (if I recall correctly) created them. With regard to your comment that "they can be made however people like", you must understand that people don't like the flags on this template. Only you do. I'm sorry. Ground Zero 21:47, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Also, in the case of Template:United Kingdom, there are only 4 flags, and arguably they do not expand the template too much. And as pointed out, you created Template:Channel Islands, which is not exactly the best-looking of them all, if I might add. Circeus 22:07, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

 * The changes I made were in the spirit of the compromise- ie slight changes to see how they worked, not full scale reversions. Of the other footers, I only created Channel Islands template, the others were not by me, and many of these footers cannot have flags as either: no flag exists, or none is uploaded on wikipedia. In any case, I believe you are just being obstructive, rather than simply not liking the flags. We will see how this works out. Astrotrain 22:03, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

After looking at the 4 versions of the template I'll have to express my appreciation for the no picture template. I think that the navigational toolbar that this template is supposed to be is better served without the flag images. The flags belong in the articles proper not a template to be put at the bottom of many pages. I've read the entire talk page and Astrotrain has not tried to compremise until he lost. Flehmen 18:16, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

District of Keewatin
I am currently in the beginings of expanding the defunct District of Keewatin territory page. I was going to add the defunct territory under the territories section of the template, after seeing the contentious debate here, I thought I better ask and see if anyone thinks this is a good idea. --Cloveious 22:21, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

 * The templates, unfortunately, only list the current subdivisions,for the most part,so adding the District of Keewatin would probably be inappropiate. The question is completely unrelated to the debate above, which relates to whether flagsought to be used on the template. Circeus 23:37, 22 October 2005 (UTC)


text:
User:Spencer195

fr:Utilisateur:Spencer195 zh-cn:User:Spencer195

This is my page. Here is some useful stuff:

The template I've been using to fill in the counties of Taiwan: WikiProject Taiwanese counties

User:spencer195/Template

Useful links:

 * Look up Hanzi unicode values
 * Unihan database
 * Pinyin converter (Has some bugs, most notably third tones come out as breves instead of carons)
 * Better pinyin converter - Note: Choose "code soup" for plain unicode without combining diacritics.
 * Where to put the pinyin tones

Romanization conversion

 * http://www.pinyin.info/romanization/compare/wadegiles.html
 * Wade-Giles → Zhuyin → Pinyin conversion table
 * Pinyin → Wade-Giles → Zhuyin conversion table

Misc

 * http://www.hksdb.org.hk/hksdb/html/big5/ct_hangseng.htm
 * http://media.justsports.net.tw/spo_demo/bbs_read.asp?id=8867
 * http://www.mforce-badminton.com/localpublic.htm
 * http://2004.sina.com.cn/star/yong_fujun/index.shtml
 * http://badminton.sport.org.cn/yqjy/sjpm/vz/2004-04-01/vz594i631i6521.html

 * http://www.chinataiwan.org/web/webportal/W5088618/index.html

Art

 * http://ccd.zjonline.com.cn/zgysd003.htm (Beautiful images)
 * http://www.ieshu.com
 * http://www.artchine.org/
 * http://www.china-on-site.com/painterindex.php
 * http://epochtimes.com/gb/nf2745.htm

 * Wiktionary:Main Page

 * /Temp
 * /Articles currently using name boxes
 * /Wikipedia bookmarks

title: User:Spencer195


text:
List of Vancouver SkyTrain stations

The Vancouver SkyTrain is a three-line urban mass transit system in the metropolitan area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, managed by TransLink. The Expo Line was built for the Expo 86 World's Fair; the Millennium Line opened in 2002, followed by the Canada Line in 2009, which was built for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Expo and Millennium Lines are operated by the British Columbia Rapid Transit Company on behalf of TransLink. The Canada Line is owned by InTransitBC, and operated by ProTrans BC, an SNC-Lavalin company. The Expo and Millennium Lines use Bombardier's Advanced Rapid Transit technology, while the Canada Line technology is provided by Hyundai Rotem. The SkyTrain is the oldest and longest fully automated driverless rapid transit system in the world.

The SkyTrain was conceived as a legacy project of Expo 86; its first line, the Expo Line, was finished in 1985, in time to showcase the fair's theme: Transportation and Communication. The line connected Vancouver with the cities of Burnaby and New Westminster, with the terminus stations at Waterfront and New Westminster station. In 1989, the line was extended one station east to Columbia station. The Skybridge, the only cable-stayed bridge built for transit use in the world, was completed in 1990, extending the Expo Line eastward to the city of Surrey with the addition of Scott Road station. The line was extended eastward again with the opening of Gateway, Surrey Central, and King George stations in 1994.

TransLink, which took over BC Transit's responsibility for the operation of the SkyTrain in 1998, proposed a two-phase expansion of the system: the first phase consisted of a CA$1.2-billion new line from New Westminster to the Broadway campus of Vancouver Community College in Vancouver via Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby. The second phase was a $730-million extension eastward from Lougheed Town Centre to Coquitlam Centre in Coquitlam via Port Moody and another extension westward from Vancouver Community College to Granville Street via the Broadway corridor. The expansion line, now known as the Millennium Line, began operating in 2002. The line connected to the Expo Line at Columbia and originally added eleven new stations to the system; the twelfth, Lake City Way, opened in 2003. The Millennium Line's thirteenth station and current western terminus, VCC–Clark, opened in 2006. The second phase was subsequently cancelled, later revived and eventually branded the Evergreen Extension. The extension opened in 2016, expanding service into Coquitlam via Burnaby and Port Moody with 6 new stations, adding 11 km to the existing Millennium Line. The extension stretches from Lougheed Town Centre station to Lafarge Lake–Douglas station, which is located beside Lafarge Lake and across from the David Lam campus of Douglas College in Coquitlam City Centre.

In 2004, TransLink approved a 19 km line connecting Vancouver with Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport (YVR). The line, now known as the Canada Line, opened in 2009, a few months ahead of the 2010 Olympics. The line added 15 stations to the system, and has two branches that split off at Bridgeport; one branch heads south to the city of Richmond, while the other heads west toward the main terminal at YVR.

There are 53 stations on the SkyTrain system. 20 stations are served exclusively by the Expo Line, 14 exclusively by the Millennium Line, 15 exclusively by the Canada Line, 1 by both the Expo and Canada Lines, and 3 by both the Expo and Millennium Lines. Vancouver and Burnaby have a total of 31 stations, 20 and 11 respectively, consisting of 58 percent of the system's stations. Commercial–Broadway was originally two separate stations—Broadway station and Commercial Drive station; Broadway was completed with the Expo Line, while Commercial Drive was completed with the Millennium Line. The stations combined in 2009 in order to avoid confusion with Broadway–City Hall. From the Millennium Line's start of operation in 2002 until 2016, all Expo Line stations outside of Surrey were also serviced by the Millennium Line until TransLink changed the operating patterns of both lines. Since 2016, Braid and Sapperton have been serviced by the Expo Line instead of the Millennium Line via a branch from Columbia heading north towards Production Way–University, a major bus transfer point for Simon Fraser University's Burnaby campus. The Millennium Line heads east from VCC–Clark to Larfarge Lake–Douglas, connecting with the Expo Line at Production Way–University and Lougheed Town Centre stations. Waterfront is the terminus for both the Expo and Canada Lines. Richmond–Brighouse and YVR–Airport are the outbound terminuses for the two Canada Line branches.

title: List of Vancouver SkyTrain stations


text:
Varnish tree

The name varnish tree may refer to numerous species of tree:

 * The candlenut, or kukui (Aleurites moluccanus)
 * The goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata)
 * The marking nut tree (Semecarpus anacardium)
 * The Chinese lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum)

title: Varnish tree


text:
Kool (cigarette)

Kool (stylized as KOOL) is an American brand of menthol cigarette, currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands LLC, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Company. Kool cigarettes sold outside of the United States are manufactured by British American Tobacco.

History
In 1931, Brown and Williamson launched "Penguin" as an unfiltered 70-millimeter "regular" menthol cigarette, with a package featuring "a Penguin with its beak raised and its heavy wings raised in a sort of mid-flourish." In 1933, the brand was renamed Kool, though it retained the as-yet unnamed penguin mascot.

Kool enjoyed continued success through the 1950s, with a 1953 Roper survey showing that two percent of white Americans and five percent of African Americans preferred the Kool brand.

Growing public concern about the health risks associated with smoking prompted Brown and Williamson responded to release filtered varieties of Kool: an 85-millimeter "king-sized" version in the 1960s, followed by a 100-millimeter or "long" version in the 1970s. The 1980s saw the introduction of Kool lights and a loss of market share to other menthol brands, such as Newport.

In 2003, Brown and Williamson purchased the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, making Kool a Reynolds brand. The iconic green and white pack, virtually unchanged for some seventy years, was overhauled, and the original unfiltered Kool cigarette was discontinued. These changes did little to boost sales.

In 2015 a merger between Reynolds American and the Lorillard Tobacco Company brought the Kool brand into the Imperial Tobacco Company portfolio of properties.

Marketing
Kool cigarette advertising began with the character of "Willie" the penguin, who was portrayed as several different professions, among which were a doctor, a soldier and a chef. In the early 1950s, the company placed a number of decal signs at entrance doors reading "Come in... it's Kool inside", indicating that the space was air-conditioned.

In the early 1960s, the image of the cartoon penguin was no longer used, and Kool instead began marketing their cigarettes by linking the taste of menthol to outdoor scenes portraying water or snow. Elaine Devry and John Clarke (actor) featured in Kool's advertisement at this time, as the female smoker whose day was improved by a passer-by who changed her car's flat tire. This was decades before whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand exposed Brown and Williamson's deliberate lacing of their tobacco with harmful substances.

In 1971, Kool initiated an advertising campaign where consumers could mail order a Snark sailboat with the Kool logo on the sail—for $88 (later $99) along with one Kool carton flap—including delivery. The sailboats retailed at the time for $120. As one of Kool's highest scoring ads, the company received over 18,000 orders for "Sea Snarks" in 1971.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Kool sponsored jazz festivals and many advertisements from the era featured a musician or an actor, playing a saxophone. Also, Kool was notoriously targeted to African-Americans, as were many menthol cigarettes. In 1975, Kool held a sweepstakes with a Rolls-Royce Corniche as the prize.

At one time also Kool sponsored a hot-air balloon, which went on tours.

Sport sponsorship
Kool was the main sponsor of Team KOOL Green in the CART series from the 1997 season until the 2002 season. In 2002, after the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement passed, Kool cigarettes could not be displayed on the cars for the IRL's Indianapolis 500, and the logo was replaced with 7-Eleven.

Markets
Kool cigarettes are mainly sold in the United States, but also were or still are sold in Canada, Honduras, Antigua, Bahamas, Jamaica, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Japan and Australia. The Estonian Patent Office denied permission for the Kool trademark to be used in Estonia because the name means "school" in the Estonian language.

Current varieties
Kool is available in the following styles in the United States:
 * Green - Filter Kings & Super Longs (formerly Full Flavor)
 * Blue - Filter Kings & Super Longs (100s) (formerly Milds)

In 2023, ITG Brands introduced four new non-menthols to prepare for a possible flavored tobacco ban by the FDA and to expand their sales to states that already have a ban in place. The green and blue boxes look identical to the menthol version to appeal to smokers who are used to the brand. Previously, Kool XL, a wider cigarette, was available.
 * Green Non-Menthol - Filter Kings & Super Longs (100s)
 * Blue Non-Menthol - Filter Kings & Super Longs (100s)
 * Luxe Non-Menthol Bold - Filter Kings & 100s
 * Luxe Non-Menthol Smooth - Filter Kings & 100s

title: Kool (cigarette)


text:
Province of South Carolina

The Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of the Kingdom of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies of the British Empire. The monarch of Great Britain was represented by the Governor of South Carolina, until the colonies declared independence on July 4, 1776.

Etymology
"Carolina" is taken from the Latin word for "Charles" (Carolus), honoring King Charles II, and was first named in the 1663 Royal Charter granting to Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkeley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley, and Sir John Colleton the right to settle lands in the present-day U.S. states of North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.

History
Charles Town was the first settlement, established in 1670. King Charles II had given the land to a group of eight nobles called the lords proprietor; they planned for a Christian colony. Originally a single proprietary colony, the northern and southern sections grew apart over time, due partly to neglect by the legal heirs of the original lords proprietor. Dissent over the governance of the province led to the appointment of a deputy governor to administer the northern half of the Province of Carolina in 1691. The partition of the province into North and South Carolina became complete in 1712.

The Yamasee War (1715–1717) ravaged the back-country of the province. Complaints that the proprietors had not done enough to protect the provincials against either the Indians or the neighboring Spanish, during Queen Anne's War (1702–1713), convinced many residents of the necessity of ending proprietary rule. A rebellion broke out against the proprietors in 1719. Acting on a petition of residents, King George I appointed the governor of South Carolina later in that year (the governors of North Carolina would continue to be appointed by the lords proprietor until 1729). After nearly a decade in which the British monarchy sought to locate and buy out the lords, both North and South Carolina became royal colonies in 1729.

Government
The Court of King's Bench and Common Pleas was founded c.1725, based in Charles Towne. List of Chief Justices:

title: Province of South Carolina