(RNS) — Anshul Virmani, a software program advisor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, mentioned his colleagues at work start asking about Holi lengthy earlier than his kids do. “They at all times ask, ‘When is the colour competition? When are you guys gonna do the color-themed occasion?’”
Most Individuals could be hard-pressed to call any Hindu vacation, however Holi, the colourful competition that entails playfully throwing pink, purple, yellow and different brightly hued powders, has turn out to be far and away probably the most recognizable, if nonetheless mysterious, occasion for non-Hindus.
Previously decade, Holi celebrations throughout the U.S. have elevated, usually filling up a complete month’s weekends or two. Whereas diaspora Hindus are discovering new methods to have a good time Holi of their new environs, from family-friendly confetti throwing at public parks to neon-glow events on the hottest nightclubs, many are additionally sharing the custom with a wider viewers.
“We’ve seen lots of people who usually are not from South Asia coming to our occasions,” mentioned Virmani, who’s an occasion planner in his spare time. His firm, AV Leisure, will host six Holi occasions this yr, together with a preferred Holi Cruise Occasion on the Hudson River, with indoor and out of doors decks and eco-friendly coloured streamers. “They’re actually our cheerleaders, they usually hold encouraging us, motivating us to do extra occasions like these.”
Throughout the broad Hindu custom, Holi celebrates the victory of excellent over evil, in some instances basing it on tales within the Bhagavata Purana by which Holika, a demon king’s sister, tries and fails to kill Lord Vishnu’s steadfast devotee Prahlada. Different Hindus hint Holi to tales of divine love between blue-skinned Lord Krishna and his consort Radha, to whom he mischievously utilized colours to match his look.
In some traditions, Holi is a two-day feast. In others, the revelry goes on for greater than a month. Hindu households gentle bonfires (to burn away evil, but additionally to destroy Holika), share meals and sweets with their neighbors after which chase one another via the streets with coloured powders, shouting the Hindi greeting “Holi hai!” (It’s Holi!)
Prashant Kakad, middle, performing as DJ Prashant in the course of the Holi celebration in downtown Portland, Ore., April 21, 2024. (Courtesy photograph)
Prashant Kakad remembers the speedy feeling of belonging it gave him as a brand new arrival at Cornell College within the early 2000s, to see even non-Hindu college students celebrating Holi.
Now a musician and a DJ in Portland, Oregon, who spins information beneath the identify DJ Prashant, Kakad will current his personal model of the competition at an all-ages occasion at Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Sq. on the finish of March with assist from a grant from the town. He’s anticipating virtually 5,000 attendees, making it the biggest occasion he may have ever placed on. “It’s a Bollywood dream,” he mentioned.
However Kakad mentioned the non secular essence of the vacation comes via, whether or not it’s celebrated in a bar or in a temple parking zone. “It’s simply so positively and strongly itself, and the act of making use of colours to one another, and the colour signifying the unity that we now have, can deliver a lot pleasure and tradition to us,” he mentioned. (He recommends that occasion planners be capable to learn the room, nevertheless: He was as soon as scolded for enjoying a range from a barely risque Bollywood soundtrack at a temple occasion.)
In Los Angeles, Mandeep Pabla is gearing up for Holi & the Seaside, his second annual “new age” music competition on Redondo Seaside, full with a essential stage, superstar DJ appearances and a sponsorship from Sprite, the soda model. Final yr, the inaugural occasion bought out with greater than 5,000 individuals, justifying leaving his company job to double down on producing occasions (as Radio5 Occasions).
“I need this to be the subsequent Coachella for the Indian group,” mentioned Pabla, who has held related Holi celebrations occasions for greater than a decade.
Colours are thrown within the air throughout a Holi competition in Spanish Fork, Utah. (Picture by Picture by John Thomas/Unsplash/Inventive Commons)
However Pabla famous that just about 40% of competition attendees have been non-Indian, due to his emphasis on giving the “previous traditions a little bit LA remix,” he mentioned. “I’m within the enterprise of pushing tradition out, and, you understand, we have to have an identification. How can all of us come collectively and say, ‘You understand what, that is our night time.’”
In brief, Pabla believes, Holi is about friendship: The act of smearing coloured powder in your “finest buddy, your ride-or-die,” doesn’t come round every single day. “You may’t simply go forward and have a coloration social gathering on a Friday night time,” he mentioned, however that makes Holi, a chance to point out individuals how you are feeling about them, all of the extra necessary. “It’s a competition of affection,” he mentioned. “I virtually wanna say that needs to be the title of it.”
Some Hindus see Holi as greater than a friendship competition. Jayanthi Moorthy, an artist and educator in New York, hopes second-generation American Hindus and their classmates come away from her occasions with a deeper understanding of Holi.
“I’m not a giant fan of how issues are completed, as a result of I simply really feel every little thing, the throwing, the colours and the dance, it’s like consuming the tradition,” mentioned Moorthy. “And I believe I’m completed with solely consuming Indian tradition. I simply really feel there must be a degree the place individuals are additionally studying.”
Final weekend, Moorthy gathered kids ages 3 to five with their dad and mom for a Holi Artwork Studio. Dad and mom outlined their kids on a big sheet of paper, and children have been requested, ‘What are the colours you see exterior of your self, in New York Metropolis, or within the garments you put on? And what are the colours you see inside while you shut your eyes, within the stuff you eat or the stuff you like?’
“In the long run, they have been really portray their self portraits, based mostly on these coloration codes and questions we requested them,” mentioned Moorthy. “I believe that could be a deeper sense of a Holi celebration.”
In early April, Moorthy’s group, Aksara, will host its fourth “Holi on the Hudson” celebration on the Manhattan riverfront. Park restrictions prohibit coloured powders, so households will “throw colours within the sky” by flying kites over the river. Highlighting the welcoming of spring, the occasion previously has attracted about 100 households, greater than half of them non-Indian. “They inform me, ‘That is the one Holi occasion that I can really put on good garments!”
