Story & Photos by Marcie Giovannoni
The countdown from the loudspeakers begins and students rush to the center of the Education Lawn as excited laughter and screams fill the air. Before “zero” is even heard, a cloud of colors fills the sky as water flies everywhere, covering the sea of white with bright colors signifying that the celebration of Holi has officially begun.
Holi is the Hindu festival of colors recognizing the coming of spring and all the colors related to the new season. Traditionally, Holi is celebrated by participants wearing white and throwing various brightly colored powders and water at one another. Although there are several different religious reasons for the festival, the overall theme, regardless of the specific region, is celebrating the victory of good over evil. “It’s pretty much an Indian highlighter party, but outside and way cooler,” says Saraga Reddy, president of the University of Oregon’s Students of the Indian Subcontinent (SIS).
After months of being holed up inside because of cold and rainy weather, SIS members couldn’t have chosen a better time to bring the festival to the UO campus. On a gorgeous seventy-degree and sunny day, hundreds of students of all ages, cultures, and sizes gathered in white behind the Knight Library to join in the wet and colorful fun of UO’s first Holi festival. “[SIS] thought that Holi would be a fun way to bring together the UO student community and expose people to other cultures,” Reddy says. “Also, it’s just plain fun!”
With music ranging from A.R Rahman’s “Jai Ho” to Lupe Fiasco’s “The Show Goes On,” Holi was a blast. UO student Matthew Stang says he thoroughly enjoyed “being able to walk up to total strangers and put [powder] on their face, and it being totally cool because everyone is just trying to have a good time and not be so stressed out.”
After the event went viral on Facebook and word of mouth spread the news even further, the club had a much larger turnout than originally expected with the colored powder going fast. But that didn’t stop students from hanging out, singing, dancing, and making a make shift slip-n-slide from a big, blue tarp.
Annually several other college campuses hold Holi festivals. Now, it has finally reached the UO. Since there was a huge student interest, SIS considers this year’s Holi event at UO a trial run and plans to  host another Holi next year. To make next year’s festival that much better, the club is considering importing the color packets direct from India.
 

Gallery • 2 Photos

Holi: An Indian Highlighter Party