Holika Dahan

Hiranyakashipu, unable to stop his son Prahlad's devotion to Vishnu, enlisted his sister Holika, who had a boon making her immune to fire. She sat in a pyre with Prahlad in her lap. The boon failed, accounts say it worked only if she entered fire alone, and Holika burned while Prahlad walked out untouched.

A pyre is built in advance at a crossroads or open ground, topped with an effigy of Holika. It is lit at the prescribed muhurat after sunset, the timing matters and is avoided during Bhadra, which sometimes pushes it past midnight. People circle it, offer grain and coconut, and roast the new harvest in the embers.

New-harvest grain and chickpeas roasted in the fire. Gujiya, malpua, thandai and dahi vada are prepared for the following day.

In Braj, Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana. The whole season is extended and famous, with Lathmar Holi at Barsana. In Bengal the equivalent is Dol Purnima, focused on Krishna and Radha rather than the bonfire. Largely not observed in the far south.