On March 14, students celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, by throwing packets of colored powder at each other on the chapel lawn. Holi represents the coming of spring in India, and it celebrates the eternal and divine love of the Hindu gods Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies good over evil and is celebrated by throwing bright-colored powder everywhere to signify love and equality.
This is the fourth year Darlington has hosted the Holi festival. Students wore light-colored clothing that could get ruined by the color. The colored powder, also known as gulal, was tossed into the air and onto other students. Organized by the Asian Student Union, students came together to celebrate the coming of spring and the victory of good over evil. Senior Javin Pandya shares what went into the Holi celebration.
“Just trying to come up with a good speech and presentation to show the students what the festival is all about and ordering the right powder for the event, Pandya said. “We really just wanted to get as many students involved as possible.”
The event was meant to be “a fun and entertaining way to celebrate the Hindu holiday” while also learning about what it means. Junior Jaylen Patel shares what his favorite part of the Holi festival was.
“I love that the school embraces my culture and especially how they give us color packets and they take time out of the school day to let us celebrate and enjoy throwing color packets at each other,” Patel said. “I liked doing Holi again this year because I got to throw color packets at people and my favorite color was pink. Also, I believe Holi is fun, it is religious and it gives hope and happiness coming into the spring season.”
Holi is a very important holiday in the Hindu culture with many people celebrating it each year. Patel shares what the importance of celebrating Holi is and what it means to him.
“I think it is pretty important to celebrate Holi in school because it is important to acknowledge other religious events, especially at a school like Darlington which has a lot of students from a lot of different countries,” Patel said. “I think it is very important that they embrace everyone’s culture and everyone gets to take a piece of it, especially because it is a fun event, and I think it is very cool for people to actually see what Holi is and how we celebrate it.”