Celebrating Holi: Why I got attacked with colored powder
April 13, 2016
I never knew what chalk tasted like before experiencing Holi. I also never truly got to experience happiness with so many strangers.
Holi is the reason why you see your friends posting photos covered in colored powder and paint. It’s a festival dedicated to spring celebrated in India and Nepal. According to Simply Vedic, the organization that put together the event I attended, “The Festival of Colors announces the passing of winter and arrival of spring. People bury their hatchets with a warm embrace and throw their worries to the wind. The festival promotes friendship while offering an occasion to forgive and forget.”
That was all I knew about Holi; that it celebrated spring, and you got to attack your friends with colored powder. It was enough to convince me to attend my first Holi celebration (and drag a friend along).
I picked up my best friend to join me in my adventure. I was too scared to go alone, I needed somebody to depend on if I ever felt awkward. As we drove to the location, we astutely followed the people who were bright orange and pink. The first thing we noticed: it was all kids and families. We felt awkward. We sat there uncomfortably in the car debating if we should even go out. After a final look to one another and sigh, we pushed away the worries of being two college girls amongst the crowd of children and their mommies.
The celebration wasn’t simply just throwing powder. Simply Vedic put together vendors, food, live music and dance performances to create a fun insight into the culture of India for anyone there. Though our fingers were frozen, we warmed up in the crowd watching young girls in shiny costumes doing traditional dances. Those who obviously had never witnessed this aspect of Indian culture clapped along, some even joining with their own little dance.
After buying our surprisingly large bags of powder, specifically fluorescent blue, yellow, pinks and greens, we walked to the open field where we saw celebrators all in white running around. We were ready to transform our white and black outfits into a piece of art.
It was the perfect day to celebrate spring. The sky, surprisingly as of late, was clear and blue. A live band played in the background as powder flew into the air. It was so hard not to immediately smile when you looked around and saw kids, as young as two or three, chasing each other, adults sneaking up on one another and the whole field filled with laughter.
Our previous worries of sticking out awkwardly amongst others quickly disappeared. We dipped our hands into our bags of yellow and pink then took towards opposite sides of the field full-force. We were in war mode: enjoying the simple fun of getting chased. Until the boys attacked.
Until now, each person at the celebration was off in their own groups throwing paint and powder. The same was true for my friend and I. This changed once several little boys whipped past us with finger-paint and coated our clothes. Two 19 year-old college girls were full-speed chasing five boys probably under the age of nine. It was awesome.
We felt 9 years old again, sprinting through the field sharing this color with complete strangers. This is when I started to experience what Holi truly was.
Our chasing was cut short when everybody in the field was asked to group together. We were going to throw handfuls of color into the air at the same time.
Though an Indian celebration, it was the most mixed group I’ve ever seen. Gray hair was transformed green, dark skin turned blue, little painted fingers attacked.The ages and the ethnicities were all over, yet every person was covered with the same color and smiling for the same reasons.
Then it was time. This incredibly mixed group of complete strangers counted down from five and we threw our worries to the wind, shouting and laughing. Spring was about rebirth and starting new. I thought of my stresses through the past year and felt bliss when I watched the wind carry it away in the most beautiful shade of green.
Witnessing all this color surrounding the group was something every person should witness at least once. It was like the world turned Technicolor, and we were somewhere else.
Strangers approached me smiling, “Happy Holi!” as they sprinkled color all over my hair. Strangers began to creep and surprise us with handfuls of purple, green and blue to the face. Nobody could be defined as black or white anymore. Everybody was too covered in the same bright colors now. We were all strangers in the beginning. We looked different, we were with different people, but now we were the same.
One word to describe my first time celebrating Holi: bliss. Holi promotes love, the new season and friendship. I could have told you that’s exactly what it means without knowing the dictionary definition of Holi, because I could feel it. Holi isn’t just a cool thing to attend so you can Instagram it. It’s an experience to remind you of what’s important and an experience like no other.
To look at more images and videos of the event, go to codcourier.org.
Photos courtesy of Victor Polk
