It's time for another wild Indian festival and this time it's the spring festival of Holi. Of all the Indian festivals, this is one of the more well known and widely celebrated across the country. It is technically a Hindu holiday but is celebrated by all religions because its just so fun and centers around that universal idea of spring-time renewal and a time to wipe the slate clean.
The basic story goes like this: There was a god of all the demons named Hiranyakashipu who had a son named Prahlada and a daughter named Holika. Prahlade was a firm believer in Vishnu which went against everything that his father represented so Hiranyakashipu tried to kill his son a number of different ways but was never successful. Now Holika had a special cloak that prevented her from being harmed by fire so Hiranyakashipu decided to sit Prahlade on his sister's lap and set them on fire in order to kill him. The plan didn't turn out as expected and Holika went up in flames and Prahlade survived. Because of this, every evening before Holi, families set large bonfires and celebrate the triumph of good over evil. The next day celebrated the renewal of the universe and all the positive wonderful things that flow through us, represented by a spectrum of color.
The result is another joyous celebration full of life and energy, and in this case colored dyes and powders. People go out with squirt guns and water balloons full of colored water as well as bags of colored powder to try and color each other as much as possible. Although fun, this can be a pretty crazy and dangerous festival since:
1. The goal is to attack as many people as possible so if you're outside, you are likely to be a target.
2. Most of the dye comes from harsh chemicals that are often toxic and contain many dangerous ingredients
3. This is the only day of the year that marijuana is legal and is widely served in a pot-milkshake called a bhang lassi.
Even so, it is a fun adventure and so friendly, joyous, and colorful, its hard not to jump in the fun. For the worriers out there, we did make sure that we were careful and took precautions not to get hurt which made it much more enjoyable and much less intimidating.
We were lucky to have a day off from school today so we were able to celebrate (or avoid going outside, depending on how you look at it). We started our afternoon with a Kiara Holi party where the Stutz' brought down a bunch of water pistols, buckets, and some organic, non-toxic dyes and powders they had received through the school so we could be ensured that all the kids could participate with no worries.
We went down to the pool and had a great time soaking each other and throwing
around the colored powder. It was fun for everyone and the kids just hopped in the pool when they were done. We wanted to venture outside and check out the real deal so we hooked up with Dave and Martin and the 4 of us went out to brave the holi-day. It was nice to have the Kiara party right before so we were already wet and covered in colors before going out.
We walked away from all the shops into some of the smaller backroads where there was a little more action. We made the mistake of going out unarmed so we quickly became easy targets. What was so surprising (and comforting) was how kind and gentle people were. It was very low key and nobody was really agressive or over the top. They would come up and greet us and spread some Holi love on our faces then give us a handshake or hug and wish us a happy Holi. This was very nice, especially since we were carrying cameras and obviously looked a little out of place. We did have some random drive-by attacks and various water balloons tossed our way but all in all it was surprisingly calm and people were very curteous.
On our way back home we passed by an apartment driveway full of people celebratings so we decided to poke our heads in and see what was going on. Of course they welcomed us in and we all got some more coloring and friendly greetings. They even had some Holi sweets that they offered us and we got to hang out and talk with them for a bit. Its always fun to get out of the apartment and meet the people that live around us since we rarely get a chance to interact with people outside of our school.
All in all it was a very entertaining day, even though we are all still a little stained from the dye. My face is still a little raw from all the scubbing. It will be fun to see who else comes to school tomorrow with a little Holi leftover on their face and hair. Our hope now is that it will all be scrubbed off before our big PTA gala this weekend. More to come on that later in the week (and hopefully some pictures of Elizabeth and her new hand tailored sari).
Like I mentioned before, we did take our cameras out with us all wrapped in plastic but because of all the mess, it was tough to take lots of pictures so we have a collection of shots from our camera as well as from Dave and Martin. Its all up on Picassa so enjoy!
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