BY LOGAN HURSTON
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — On March 22, the Indian Student Association (ISA) at Auburn University hosted the annual Holi celebration on the Campus Green. Holi is a Hindu festival that celebrates Spring, love and warmth. At the festival, participants celebrated by covering each other with powdered paint and water.
ISA has held an annual Holi celebration for over a decade. This year, the event was sponsored by the Indian Cultural Association of East Alabama, Auburn Global, Auburn Graduate School and the Office of International Programs.
“We have been planning about this event since Feb. 15,” said Rahul Parikh, Auburn ISA’s vice president of publicity. “Our first meeting for the event lasted quite long, almost 3 hours, and it was just about the primary outline of the event. We wanted to make sure that we learned from the previous Holi and make it even better experience for all our attendees.
“Few things we stressed more about this year was safety of participants, having a dedicated spot for kids to enjoy games, targeting more diverse group of people and giving rides to international students who might not have a car, especially because the event was on Saturday and Tiger Transit does not run on weekends. It was lot of work, but the whole team came together and made it happen. Special thanks to all the volunteers who helped us to make the event a hit.”
The Holi celebration began with an introduction by ISA members Shreyasee Mandal and Alankrit Wadhwa, who explained the story behind the festival.
“According to legend, there was once a demon king, Hiranyakashyapu, who wanted everyone to worship only him,” Mandal said. “However, his own son, Prahlad, was a devoted follower of Lord Vishnu.”
“Furious at his son’s defiance, the king ordered his sister, Holika, who had a magical fireproof shawl, to sit in a fire with Prahlad on her lap, believing the fire would consume him,” Wadhwa said. “But divine intervention flipped the script the shawl protected Prahlad, while Holika perished in the flames. This event symbolizes the victory of good over evil, commemorated through Holika Dahan.”
After the introduction, the approximately 300 participants in attendance enjoyed games and activities, followed by a traditional Indian meal. Then, the colors started flying and children and adults took turns grabbing cups of powder paint to throw on their friends, family and strangers. Nobody was off limits, with the crowd looking like a children’s coloring book by the end of the event.
“Holi is very special for me because as I kid, back in India, I used to literally go on Holi party hopping and play Holi the whole day,” said Parikh. “It’s not just the part where you play with colors but the preparation that goes behind it. Me and my sister used to wake up at 6 in the morning to fill buckets of water balloons so that we would have enough to throw them at others. In Holi, the whole community comes together, and you could color and throw water balloons at anyone you wanted to. I remember going out with my father days before to buy the colors and choosing what kind of colors to buy, along with buying multiple water guns.
“It also has a great religious significance for Hindus, as it marks the victory of evil over bad,” said Parikh. “Holi is actually a two-day celebration, where on the eve of the Holi, a huge bonfire is lit up and people walks around the fire in a circle and offering popcorn, dates and coconuts to the fire. My mum used to buy big packs of popcorn and dates, and I used to enjoy munching on them.”
For more information about the ISA, see www.auinvolve.com or follow them on social media.
