MinnesotaMel

"Holi" experiences

At the end of March, I had my first “Holi” experience. Holi is the Nepali version of the rights of spring. There are two legends about the origins of Holi. One has the moral of a good god triumphing over an evil assassination attempt. The other involves an amorous God playing a prank on women who were bathing in the river. The festival dates change each year, but this year Holi just happened to land on Good Friday, March 25. Per the Nepali Times newspaper “Holi has been traditionally the only times girls and boys were allowed to flirt blatantly, douse each other in water and colors, symbolizing passion.” The celebration involves prayer powder, aka “puja” powder and comes in red, yellow, blue, green, purple, etc, being slathered on the faces and clothes of friends and strangers as you meet them on the street. Generally you walk up to someone, slather powder on them and say “Happy Holi”, or at least that is what we did. I will admit that some “Holi worshipers” got a bit more touchy than they needed to be. The other aspect is the water. People fill water balloons, buckets and water guns and then stand on the roofs and terraces and “terrorize” unsuspecting passersby. Of course, everyone knows it is Holi, so no one is actually unsuspecting. If you don’t want to play Holi, you are supposed to stay home. (See photos at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=16nw59zt.bna84tel&x=0&y=cayi11).

posted by MinnesotaMel @ 10:22 PM