By Lindsey Morris |ContributorWhen my friend asked me to attend the Holi Festival on March 22, I had no clue what it even was, and neither did she. She just told me that her friend’s organization was planning it and that we would pay a couple of dollars to throw colored cornstarch at each other. I did not need much more convincing to go. Smacking my friends in the face with colored cornstarch sounded hilarious.In actuality, there is far more to Holi than colored cornstarch in your friends’ faces. Holi, or the festival of colors, is an ancient Hindu festival that is celebrated in March across Indian subcontinent. Holi is a celebration of the ending of the gloom of winter and it welcomes in the joy and colors of spring.Members of Augusta University’s student organization the Indian Cultural Exchange were the ones who planned and ran the event. They set up on the Science Hall Field, providing plenty of room for participates to run and celebrate. We dragged a few friends with us and signed in, got pizza and paid for our colored packets. None of us were sure how to start, but the second the first handful of blue was thrown at my face, it was a game on.For the next half hour or so, my friends and I ran around the field, chasing each other with handfuls of colors, splatting each other with blues, greens, pinks, yellows, and reds. The amount of color that got into my mouth because I was laughing so much was disgusting, but it was worth it. The festival gave us all a chance to not think about school, work, or any other problems we were having. I think it is extremely important that students detach for a little while and relax with friends.Even if it is just eating pizza on the grass at the amphitheater for a couple hours, or in our case, screaming and chasing each other with clouds of color everywhere, it is important. School, work and personal problems can weigh a person down, just like the cold and gloom of winter.The Holi Festival was a beautiful welcoming of spring and relief from the weight of winter.
Contact Lindsey Morris at LIMORRIS@augusta.edu.