Holi

We made it through our first Holi festival yesterday. We all had a blast! Holi is a festival celebrating color, joy and friendship. It also marks the end of spring and the beginning of summer. People "play" holi by essentially dousing one another with colors. Our society had a big celebration - probably several hundred enthusiastic participants! We "played" holi in the morning. This is an anarchy of colors, water, friendly greetings and conversation. Everyone uses either dry powdered colors or dyes mixed with water. Colors are thrown, wiped, and shot through water guns or "pichkari." These are like large syringes that shoot a good 25 feet!

We had fun with our neighbors and met and got acquainted with many other residents at ATS. In the afternoon we had an informal lunch by the pool. It was great way to celebrate the change of seasons and the start of a new Hindu year. Holi helps to mark the end of the Hindu calendar year and start of a new "brighter" one.