Happy Belated Holi!

Holi is a Hindu Holiday that happens annually in late February or early March depending on when the full moon falls. Most commonly known as the festival of colors, it celebrates of the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring and is attached to a few legends involving the Lord Krishna.  As the festival has become more popular, Hindu’s and non-Hindu’s alike celebrate by jubilantly throwing colors in water or powder form on friends and family to recognize the end of the dark cold winter and the beginning of beautiful colors to come as the weather warms. I say this sounds like more fun than ground hogs day…

This year Holi fell on March 6^th, and we as a group were ready for our holiday off of school with our packets of vibrant colors! Stonehill Service Corps India celebrated with some of our neighbors in the comfort of our own yard. The initial honoring of the holiday is a more intimate experience in which friends place some color on the faces of the other and offer greetings of “Happy Holi”. This was followed by the exciting and playful hours of dancing to Hindi and American music while throwing powered colors, and unfortunately some water guns of colors, onto our formerly white clothing. Our celebration lasted throughout the morning and into the afternoon, However, in some parts of India, the celebration can last for days if not weeks! 

Some of us did experience the aftermath of the Holiday when teachers at school approached us saying “Oh I can see you played Holi yesterday.” There was no denying that as our scalps, faces, and other body parts were died pink and green among other colors for several days after.