The warm afternoon sun was host to a bright array of colors as people celebrated the Indian festival of Holi at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center on Sunday.
Holi, a festival of colors, is an annual celebration of springtime which dates back thousands of years and is deeply rooted in Indian mythology.
Over 50 students and members of the community came together to celebrate the holiday by running across the grass and throwing colored powder and water at each other as they listened to a variety of music, including Bhangra, songs from Hindi sound tracks and other popular Indian music.
Sonia Hingorany, president of the Indian Student Union, said Holi was celebrated last week in India but was celebrated on Sunday at UCLA.
“There’s food, music, donations, color, and people can bring Frisbees,” Hingorany said. “It’s huge in India and this holiday has been transformed into a cultural and social event rather than a religious one.”
Anglie Taneja, secretary of ISU, said people in India use materials other than colored powder and water during Holi.
“People go to extremes with eggs,” Taneja said. “In India, people throw water balloons off their balconies.”
Priyamvada Tewari, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, said she has been celebrating Holi since she was 3 years old.
“Even in India I was very fond of this festival, and I think it’s very symbolic,” she said.
As water and paint dripped down her face, Tewari related an Indian myth related to the holiday, which she said dates back over 6,000 years.
Tewari said in Indian mythology, Krishna, a Hindu god, came to the Earth in human form and transformed the planet into a better place.
“When he was young, this river used to flow by the place he was living in, and everybody used to get together on one day of the year and color each other and throw water at each other and stay up all night and forget all their worries.”
Ravi Deo, a fourth-year ethnomusicology student, spoke about another Indian myth upon which the holiday is based, as people ran and sprayed each other with water guns in the background.
Deo said one story involves an Indian prince named Prahlad who worshipped the god Vishnu, but his father, who was a demon, wanted his son to worship him instead and attempted to have his son killed in various ways.
“The king had a sister named Holika, and she had a boon so she could never be burned,” Deo said.
Vishal Kuchadkar, a volunteer for the L.A. chapter of the Association for India’s Development, or AID, said the king attempted to burn his son by having him sit on Holika’s lap.
“Prahlad keeps chanting the name of Vishnu and ultimately (Holika) gets burned,” Kuchadkar said.
“She dies, but Vishnu saves Prahlad. The night before this event there is a bonfire, which is symbolic of the goddess Holika.”
Tewari said she enjoys the holiday because Indian people of all religions and beliefs come together to celebrate.
“People of all colors and all races and all classes are running wild, coloring each other.”
“For one day, we forget that we have different colors and different religions because you look at anybody and we are drenched in the same colors, and that is what this day stands for.”
After the festivities came to an end, students lined up for snacks and refreshments, which included samosas, deep-fried potatoes and flour, Kalajumun, a round sugar ball, and various sauces which included mint chutney and tamarind.
Kuchadkar said celebrators in India typically drink bhang, a mix of milk and marijuana, during Holi festivities.
“Of course you can’t serve that here,” Kuchadkar said with a smile.
This year, Holi was sponsored by several Indian organizations on campus, including the Indian Student Group, the Engineering Graduate Student Association, the Beta Chi Theta fraternity, Bharatiyam and UCLA AID.
Though the event was free, any donations received went to AID-LA.
Jayaram Varkatesan, a member of AID-LA, said the donation money will go to support developing projects in India.
“We raise funds in the U.S. to support developmental projects in India such as primary education, women’s empowerment, primary health care and sustainable agricultural projects,” Varkatesan said.
Niraj Butala, a third-year psychobiology student and member of Beta Chi Theta, said students from other schools were also expected to attend.
“We are expecting people from Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and UC San Diego,” he said.
“We want to bring South Asian awareness across all schools.”