This weekend, the two holidays go head-to-head. Hinduism's Chota Holi-Holi combo with Christianity's Good Friday-Easter pair. From my perspective, I have to say that Holi is a bit interesting.
I'm going to describe Holi, because I'm guessing most of my Western readers aren't too familiar. Granted, my understandting is also extremely limited, and I don't know the dieties that correspond to any of the mythology.
Holi is known as the "festival of colors." The premise is that it is the day of reconciliation, for everyone to let it all hang out for a day, smear each other with some good color, and release past grudges they have harboured. In my Catholic upbringing, there was no such comparison. If you had a grudge, you went quietly and talked to a priest. Here, you wait for the person to come out of their door on Saturday, splast them with ater, cover them with colored powder, and then get over yourself. Which sounds more constructive to you?
So everyone lights bonfires around the city to the point that the air is thicker and smokier than usual on Friday evening (Chota Holi 'Little Holi') to chase away the bad spirits and clear the way for the celebrations the next day. The next morning, everyone wakes up a tad hung over and treats it by drinking a ton of freely-available marijuana-laced drink called bhang (there was a huge pot in our hostel mess for the taking). They get sufficiently fucked up, and all start running around splashing water and colored powder (that never washes out) on each other. Don't leave your room unless you are prepared to never wear those clothes again!
By noon, everyone is tired and passed out. They get up in the late afternoon, shower off some of the color that they can, and go around to visit people. This usually includes people they have had recent conflicts with, and it opens the door for reconciliation. We went to our professors' houses.
That's about it. By the next morning, everybody is half-baked and tired, and things start to get back to normal. Now doesn't that sound much more fun than an Easter parade and a Sunday ham?
Flown by mariposa at 03:35 PM on March 26, 2005
