MustHaveBeen: To Do - Color Festival (Several places)

 

 

 

A year ago I had never heard of it and now suddenly everybody is talking about it; the Holi Color Festival. It feels like all my friends have been there and I'm being bombardised with photos and stories about this wonderful appearance. I feel like I am really missing an experience here.

But where does this sudden trend originate from?

Wiki tells me that Holo-Phagwa is an Hindu festival celebrated in spring and should be taking place on the day after full moon of the Hundu month Phaaluga (this part is clearly being ignored here in Europe). The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil and at the same time the start of the new year. During this festival people indeed throw around colored powder, but also perfume and colored water. Along with the powder comes a prayer for happiness and health in the new year. The colors represent the florishing of nature within humans. The name Holi comes from Holika, a main character in a well-known religeous Hindu story. Several regions and countries each have their own traditions and ways of selebrating the Holi festival.

This all sound spretty nice to me. But then America got a hold of this trend and introduces the festival along with color runs (every kilomer you get showered in a different color). Later it also spread to us in Europe and now people are also going mad for it. Another tradition commercialized. But is that a bad thing?

What my friends think? Most say that they had a lot of fun and the festival was great. But there were also some negative points. One friend's camera gave out because it got covered in too much colored powder. Another friend said she could barely breath or even open her eyes to look at at the poweder when it was up in the air because there was just too much. Another one said her clothes were never the same after and they ended up in the bin. Washing the color out of your hair also seems to be a problem. One friend also mentioned that they had to pay 3 euros for each bag of powder they wanted to have, adittionally to the costs of the festival itself.

So, I guess I still want to see it with my own eyes. Although I will bring a big bag of money, wear my oldest clothes and get myself a protective mask before I go.