Stop Horn Please: Holi - The Indian Festival of Colors

Happy Holi... Yet another festival in India.

John and I celebrated Holi two times this year... I think we are making up for all of the Holi celebrations we have missed in the past. Scott is in the middle of busy season and couldn't join us for the celebration... Although I think if he could, he might be tempted to skip it anyway.

Here is a Picture of me, Dr. Pat, and Greta at our first celebration... It was the 'Full Moon, Holi, Hash'. Every full moon the Hyderabad Hash House Harriers gather for a run at night. This one fell on the night before Holi... so it was a Holi Hash.

Here is a picture of some Hashers with John after our run... and color extravaganza.

John was really excited about this... this is the first time we have allowed him to celebrate Holi.

Ed, Greta, George and Dave were at the run... We had such a good time. Dave is my favorite running buddy.

Here is a picture of John after we got home and before we got in the shower.

I did a little research and I'm more confused than ever as to why we celebrate Holi. Apparently there are many different ideas of why we celebrate and how to celebrate. I guess it all just boils down to the, "Because it's fun" category.

One story I read tells us that we celebrate Holi to commemorate the escape of Pralad from the clutches of his evil father Hirnakashyup... (This is exactly why I named my son John Smith). Supposedly, Pralads aunt Holika could walk through fire without getting hurt... so Hirnakashyup who wanted to kill his son Pralad, (and you talk about your horrible childhood) asked aunt Holika to take Pralad for a little walk... Long story short Pralad comes out of the fire unharmed not Holika... Jokes on you mean Aunt Holika... although you now have an entire festival named after you.
I guess this is why we set bon fires the night before... With a scarecrow looking man in the middle of the fire... or is that a woman?

That story explains the fires, but not the colors? I've heard some say that it is a celebration of spring and all the colors the changing of the seasons bring. That this comes at the beginning of my favorite season in India makes sense to me... (favorite season being Mango season).

Above are some of the colors John and I brought to the celebration we went to the morning of Holi. The festivities were held in our neighborhood. We wanted to have a safe and kid friendly party, so the neighbors got together and decided to only have organic colors. The problem with this is that the organic colors are made of flour and herbs. Have I mentioned it is a very dry 100 degrees here in Hyderabad? The colors I brought hatched little insects. It was funny watching some of the neighborhood girls go up and start to grab the powder to toss at their friends, only to see the little bugs crawling around in the powder and then watching the girls run away... usually shrieking.

I call this picture, 'Tra-la-la... I'm messy and not in school.'.

The "modern tradition" of celebrating Holi is by smearing each other's faces with colored powder and throwing colored water on each other. People sometimes take out processions on streets that feature folk songs, dances, and of course drums... really loud drums.

Also it is tradition to openly drink intoxicating 'Bhaang' (cannabis) drinks. (NOT BY ME MOM!)... (or John!) Like so many of the festivals I've experienced here, this Indian festival has a savage, ancient feel to it, but also makes you feel like a kid (even without the cannabis milkshake).

I still was curious about the colors... I wasn't buying the colors of spring story. Especially because there is no spring in India... India goes from nice warm weather (their 'winter'), directly to... "I think the soles of my shoes are melting into the ground" hot. So I did a little more research and found this story:
Holi is also associated with the evergreen love of Krishna and Radha. Krishna was jealous of Radha’s fair color and asked mother Yashoda for the reason for Radha’s fair color. Yashoda jokingly said if you are so jealous change her complexion by smearing color. Naughty young Krishna was waiting for an idea for a prank and did exactly as his mother suggested.

This sounds like a more beleivable reason for the colors... right?

Whatever the reason it was such a great time to blow off steam and smear stuff in the faces of your friends...

and neighbors...

and people you have just met.

Here is John and his best friend Arjun.

This would have been a good place for me to stop and go home... but no-oo... someone was having so much fun they just kept going and going.

Shah and Kaden came over to watch the people play

I call this picture, "We are not amused."

Here is a picture of Tonya and Shah... how did they stay so clean?

This is Sarah... don't let her sweet smile lure you into a false sense of security... I have it on good authority that she can be quite vicious.

And now I have proof.

Here is a picture of Sarah with her cousin/brother Brad. The funny thing about this holiday is you are sort of doing things to each other, that on any other day, would be considered mean. On this day you just let loose and go with it.

I still don't know proper protocol for when you are splashed, squirted, and powdered... maybe, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

I call this picture, "Hello, How are you? Slap, Rub... How are the wife and kids? Squirt, Rub... It's been a while, oh here I have something for you! Really? A present... Whatever could it be?"

I call this one, "Oh, hi Mom! I would really appreciate you putting that camera down for just a few seconds..."

After our festival of colors we had a pot luck breakfast... casual wear was acceptable.

It was a little strange standing around talking to my neighbors and acting like everything was normal... "Hi Vimala! Why yes my head does look like a grape... you kind of look like a tie dyed human!"