HOLI FESTIVAL OF COLOURS - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE LOVE!Vrindavan, India
IT'S FANTASY FRIDAY - AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY TO DREAM!"
Holi is an ancient Hindu religious festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. Imagine one demon king named Hiranyakashyap, his evil sister, and the innocent son. As such stories often go, the evil sister is burned on a fire while the good guy escapes unharmed. No word on what fate befell the demon. No matter, the good guy won, and it's time to celebrate. And I'm all about celebrating for whatever reason. I'm happy to don a colourful sari and join the locals for sweet milky thandai topped with rose petals. I'll happily dance in the street, throw powdered dye at strangers, and just as happily be doused from head to toe. Yesterdays somber crowd of strangers are transformed today into one joyful glorious mass of colour - pink, purple, yellow, green - it covers the ground, the air, and every human on every possible surface. The Holi Festival of Colours starts a day after the Full Moon in the Hindu Calendar month of Falgun (March). Spring arrives with the bright orange and yellow of budding Ashoka. Gulmohar flowers in masses of vibrant red. But for two days on the streets of Vrindavan, and throughout northern India, even the best efforts of nature are overpowered by the complete abandon of human celebration. I'm a sucker for nature and all for enjoying a glorious spring day, but I'm also a total sucker for a story about good people doing good things. So here's why Fantasy Friday has me dreaming of tossing purple dye on the streets of Vrindavan. Holi is all about love. You can't watch a crowd of yesterdays regular folk doused today in purple, and not feel that connection between strangers, that joy in celebration, that complete abandon that comes with hiding behind a little paint. Every shot shows the same - joy, love,inclusion - old guys, little kids, family, friends, and strangers - hugging, laughing, happy. I know - it looks like it's just a great excuse for a party. But thanks to the green-haired reveller in the video below (at 42s) I know better. "It makes us look alike". Yes! For one brief moment of time everyone forgets their differences, and it's all about the love. Another Fantasy Friday ends up being about love - I'm sensing a theme here! |
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