Vibrant colors flew through the air as the students of South Windsor High School celebrated the cultural holiday known as Holi. On Wednesday March 5th, The Indian Heritage Awareness Club hosted the Holi event which celebrates the arrival of spring, love, and a new life.
Throughout the event, the colorful powders symbolize the vibrant colors of the spring, new beginnings, and the playful celebration of life, while also serving as a way to break down social barriers and forget differences. Fostering unity and community is Holi’s importance to the people that celebrate this holiday.
Certain colors are used during Holi celebrations because each color has its own meaning as per Hindu-religious texts. For instance, yellow signifies turmeric. Blue signifies Lord Krishna. Green is meant to indicate the beginning of something new or the start of spring. During the event, participants had the chance to playfully throw powdered color at one another, which is a significant component to the holiday Holi. The powder also known as Gulal symbolizes the triumph of good over evil.
In addition to the powder throwing, the event also embraced henna tattooing. Henna is a natural reddish-brown dye derived from the leaves of the henna plant used for temporary body art and hair dying. As people lined up, the skilled henna artists created unique patterns on the person’s hand using henna. Henna symbolizes joy, love, good health, and protection, and is used to celebrate only on special occasions.
The Awareness Club also included cultural foods and desserts at the event. One of the desserts was Gulab Jaman. Gulab Jaman is a popular Indian dessert consisting of fried milk based dough- balls soaked in a sweet, rose flavored, syrup, and is a favorite during celebrations and festivals.
In an interview with The Bobcat Prowl, sophomore Pranathi Matcha, who attended the event, talked about how much she loved the event.
“I love Holi; I can’t believe the school let us do colors!”
The Indian Heritage Awareness Club hosted the event to share and celebrate its culture. The Holi celebration was a lively festival.
