Bonfires mark the death of the demoness Holika, who sat in fire with the boy-devotee Prahlad wrapped in her fire-proof cloak, meaning to burn him alive — the cloak flew to protect him instead, and she burned. A story of devotion outlasting cruelty, and of Prahlad's father Hiranyakashipu, the demon king whose downfall follows soon after in the Narasimha story.
फाल्गुन पूर्णिमा की संध्या
The bonfire's ash is traditionally collected the next morning and applied to the forehead by some communities, held to carry protective and purifying properties after the fire's symbolic destruction of evil.
In many regions, a Holika effigy is built from wood and dried leaves over several days beforehand, and grain from the new harvest is roasted in the embers as an offering.