On Sunday, the Indian Graduate Student Association Maitri, and the South Asian interest organization Ektaa hosted Holi on Lee Field. Holi is a Hindi celebration, one of the most important festivals in India, and is observed across the country. The festival has various meanings to its participants. It celebrates sentiments like love, positivity and purifying oneself. It also represents the arrival of spring and the beginning of the harvest season.
Aishwarya Purushotham, a graduate student in industrial engineering and the public relations head of Maitri, spoke about the meaning of the holiday.
“The significance of the festival is, basically, where good takes over evil,” Purushotham said. “It also signifies the transition from winter to spring. So this is where we celebrate a good harvest and a thanksgiving to Mother Nature for providing us with food and grains and so on.”
Holi is a two-day festival that starts the night before the Festival of Colors. On the eve of the festival, participants burn a bonfire that signifies the purification of one’s sins from the previous year. The following day, festival-goers welcome the start of new harvest season with colorful powdered dyes.
Vallabh Viswanathan, a graduate student in architecture, spoke about a core message of the festival.
“Holi is a festival that I never missed back in India,” Viswanathan said. “It literally says ‘holi bura na mano,’which means ‘nobody gets offended.’ That’s the fun of running around randomly coloring people. Nobody gets offended today. So it’s like everybody coming together and celebrating this.”
Love is an important tenement of Holi and the Festival of Colors. The colored dyes represent positivity in life and letting go of past resentments.
“Holi also signifies breaking of different social boundaries in our country or anywhere,” Purushotham said. “It’s a festival that brings people together independent of what section of society that they belong to. It promotes the idea of unity, of brotherhood; to spread love, to spread joy, because at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.
Lida Vang, a third-year studying business administration, also joined in the celebration of color.
“I think it’s the fact that it doesn’t matter who you are,” Vang said “If you wear a clean shirt, you’re going to get splashed with paint. I think that’s the most important part; you’re just going to have fun.”
Ultimately, Holi gave the students of NC State a chance to learn about Indian culture through participating in one of the most vibrant festivals of the year.
“There’s so much happiness and so much joy that is spread, and that’s the significance of the color,” Purushotham said. “We’re trying to bring a little bit of India to Raleigh, to NC State, and not just share it with fellow Indians, but the students across different nationalities.”
Erin Cox and Minh Pham also contributed to the reporting in this article.
Sanika Sabnis, a fourth-year studying computer engineering, rubs powder on to the face of Aishwarya Purushotham, a graduate student in industrial engineering, at the Holi Festival of Colors. Holi was celebrated at NC State on Lee field on Sunday, March 24.
