Holi – the Festival of Colors

Holi, which is also known as the Festival of Colors, marks the arrival of spring and also commemorates the triumph of good over evil. Holi is an ancient Hindu festival, but over time it has become celebrated by non-Hindus as well. This year Holi falls on March 28th and March 29th.

On Holi, people gather with family and friends to go to large outdoor areas, mostly parks but sometimes outside of a temple, and everyone wears white. Then people buy powdered colors, or use the ones from wherever you go, and throw them at each other. During the festival there is music and food, and sometimes there are little booths set up around the perimeter where you can get clothes, jewelry and henna tattoos. When the festival is over, everyone goes home covered in different colors.

What usually happens at a Holi Festival?

At a Holi festival people throw different colors on other people while they walk by. Kids are always running around and everyone is smiling and laughing. Some people even fill up water balloons and throw them. The event itself becomes very messy but is always a blast. The colors are thrown everywhere and everyone gets covered head to toe in various colors. A lot of people also go to the temple and perform a religious ceremony, called the pooja. The pooja can be done at home too but many prefer to go to the temple. And then when the ceremony is over people celebrate with the colors.

I asked some Neuqua students how COVID changed how they are celebrating Holi this year and these were some of their responses.

Dhruv Algundi – “We had to do everything from home so we did Rangoli patterns outside and lit up the house with colorful lights along the stair and in the main entrance. I wish we could have done more to celebrate but we still had a lot of fun.”

Shreya Atluri – “Usually my cousins and I chalk up our driveways full of color and designs and then we have our own little festival where we get those bags of powder and throw it all over each other. However this year due to Covid I am stuck doing the chalk part on my own and unfortunately we can’t throw colors at each other but hopefully next year we can.”

Vrushi Patel – “We might just celebrate at home or go to a temple and do a puja but just without throwing any colored powder at each other’s faces.”