The field behind the International Cultural Center was awash in color Sunday afternoon as students celebrating the Indian festival Holi covered themselves in dyes and sprayed each other with water to the sound of Indian music.
“It’s like a water balloon fight without balloons,” mathematics graduate student Noah Winslow said.
The Indian Student Association hosted the local Holi observance, offering the dozens of attendees Indian food and music as they celebrated following the main event, in which students ran about throwing fistfulls of colorful dyes at each other until many were covered from head to toe.
Holi, an ancient festival most popular in northern India, celebrates the triumph of good over evil, said Indian Student Association president Hari Perumal.
The festival was born from a story of a prince who angered his father by worshipping a different god than he did. His father and evil aunt Holika plotted to trick him into being burned alive, but the god rescued the prince and Holika died in the flames instead, Perumal said.
Observers of Holi light bonfires and throw colorful dyes on each other to represent the fire and ashes from the tale. While originally a Hindu festival, people of many other faiths in India have come to celebrate it, said analytics graduate student Sudhir Kherde.
Events held in honor of Holi are very wild in India, Perumal said.
“[They] pump water on people, they play with mud, they play with eggs, they play with tomatoes,” Perumal said. “They just mix anything and everything and put it on each other.”
Holi is also a time when celebrants put their quarrels to rest and offer forgiveness to their enemies, Kherde said.
“This is the time when you openly accept that person, you meet him, and you put colors on him,” Kherde said. “[You tell them] ‘Let’s forget all the bad things between us and let us start a new year.’”
Students at Holi are given a great opportunity to meet others from different cultures and learn about each other, said Winslow, who has been attending the event since he was an undergraduate.
Perumal said he was glad to see many Americans celebrating together alongside Indians, as the festival promotes unity between different peoples in the community.
“You see all the colors? Everyone looks unique now,” Perumal said.“We don’t see any difference from Indians and Americans … everyone is just colorful.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Greta Jines

Mathematics graduate student Christopher Cericola participates in the Holi celebration hosted by the Indian Student Association Sunday, March 13, 2016, at the International Cultural Center.