Harris Field turned into another festive Indian city as students sang along to popular Hindi songs and danced together Friday afternoon. However, the most common element was the paint.
The South Asian student associations, EKTAA for undergraduates and Maitri for graduate students, hosted the Hindu festival of Holi, a celebration of colors and the coming of the spring.
However, religion was only a minor part of Friday’s celebration.
“The story of Holi is complicated… it’s a story about the struggle of Prahlad keeping his faith, but over all, it’s the festival of color,” Chandni Bhalodia, a junior in biological sciences, said.
The commemoration of Holi comes from the Vaishnavism sect’s story of a demon king who condemned his son, Prahlad, a devotee to Vishnu, to death. Prahlad’s sister, Holika, conspired to kill him in a pyre, but the flames engulfed her, not Prahlad. The festival Holi came from this triumph of good over evil, but today it’s remembered widely as the arrival of spring.
Holi signifies a cultural unification for many Hindus and non-Hindus of South Asia. Tasha Mangaldas, a senior in chemistry, compared it to Christmas – a mainstream, Western homologue.
“It’s the only things that reminds me of back home in India, it’s my most favorite festival and it’s a great time for people to come together,” Mangaldas said. Mangaldas moved to Raleigh when she started at N.C. State. “Back at home, we would all meet up at one place, like everyone in our class, and we would play pranks on each other.”
The pranks carried over to the N.C. State celebration, and organizers provided water balloons for those who “played” Holi. Additionally, for $2, players bought dye to rub onto each other. According to Ripsi Patel, junior in psychology and president of EKTAA, the organization ordered the dye, a colored cornstarch, from a South Asian supply store in New Jersey. The authentic stuff, used in India, has a reputation for not being the most safe – in 2001, health-safety advocate groups Toxics Links and Vatavaran published a study exposing toxicity in some of the dyes. The only complaint for this Holi was running out of dye quickly.
Along with the spreading of dye from friend to friend, with the common greeting “Happy Holi,” music, dance and food completed the celebration.
“We eat this snack called papdi chaat, which is a mix of puffed rice, crackers and a few spices in a sauce,” Radhika Patel, a senior in biological sciences, said. “It’s like street food in India.”
The event attracted about 100 people, according to EKTAA officers, and many students without any South Asian heritage partook in the festivities.
Though this event seemed extreme to many gawking passersby, N.C. State’s celebration was tame for Indian standards.
“People go crazy, with super soakers full of dyed water,” Bhalodia said. “The streets of India are just full of paint. It’s running in the streets and people are decked out in it.”
The paint signified the celebration, which students commemorated late this year, since the true Holi occurred during spring break.
Despite its late celebration, Nidhi Gandhi, a junior in biochemistry, said it’s always fun to observe Holi.
“It’s a time for people to unwind and get crazy,” Gandhi said. “But it’s all about the colors, hands down.”
