Scores of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ students took part Friday afternoon in the Hindu festival of Holi, a celebration of color that ushers in the season while marking the triumph of good over evil.
Powdered paint filled the air Friday afternoon in front of Moseley Center when ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ students celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi.
The fourth annual campus program on April 17, 2015, featured song, dance and revelry for the approximately 150 people who quickly found themselves covered in every color of the rainbow.
The Hindu holiday heralds the arrival of spring and marks the triumph of good over evil. Co-sponsored locally by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and the university’s Asian Studies Club, the campus celebration took place more than a month after the official March 6 holiday in India.
Organizers said the delay is intentional. Scheduling the celebration for a Friday afternoon in mid April afforded students better weather at a time when spring flowers and foliage are in full bloom.
“It’s a springtime festival, so we like to schedule this when ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ is showing its spring colors,” said Iliana Brodsky, a sophomore music and religious studies double major from Brooklyn, New York, and a multifaith intern in the Truitt Center. “We like that it’s a growing campus tradition and that it connects with the student body.”
For seniors Delaney McHugo and Skyler Wahl, partaking in the celebration was a must. Neither had been to Holi in past years and with just over a month until graduation, it was an ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ event not to be missed. “We’ve seen pictures, but it just never happened for us,” said McHugo, a cinema and creative writing double major from Medway, Massachusetts. “We’ve learned to say ‘yes’ to everything these last few weeks on campus.”
“It’s a celebration of spring,” added Wahl, a cinema major from Greensboro, North Carolina. “Why would we not say yes in our final months here to this tradition that ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ gives its community?”
The theme of incusion was equally important to other students at the celebration.
“I love the cultural events ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ has and this is one of my favorites,” said Hattie Hoskins, a junior strategic communications major from Nashville, Tennessee. “It’s fun and colorful and draws so many people, yet it’s also a celebration of Indian culture.”
Hoskins was joined by Emma Warman, a sophomore strategic communications major from Ellicott City, Maryland. Warman traveled to India over Winter Term, and the taste of the paint that made its way into her mouth Friday brought back memories of her overseas studies.
“It’s a very authentic experience that reminds me of my time abroad,” Warman said.
The festival was followed by an Indian Shabbat dinner in Lakeside Dining Hall hosted by ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Hillel.