By Jahanavi Gupta
Penn State Harrisburg will host its 4th annual Holi Festival on campus for all students, faculty and staff to attend. The Holi Festival AND Color Run event comes with festival performances, cultural presentation, dinner, and then all will go out to play with colorful powders on the S. Yard outside CUB. Bring your student ID to check in the CUB for the event. The event is to be held on Sunday, March 12, 2017. 3-8PM in the Student Center, CUB. The objective of the event is for the campus community to come together to have a good time learning about, embracing and enjoying the Hindu festival in all its glory.
Holi is a Hindu spring festival in India and Nepal, also known as the “festival of colors” or the “festival of love”. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships, and is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest. It lasts for two days starting on the Purnima (Full Moon day) falling in the Bikram Sambat Hindu Calendar.
Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika bonfire where people gather, do religious rituals in front of the bonfire, and pray that their internal evil should be destroyed as the bonfire starts. The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi – a free-for-all carnival of colors, where participants play, chase and color each other with dry powder and colored water, with some carrying water guns and colored water-filled balloons for their water fight. The frolic and fight with colors occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. Groups carry drums and other musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People visit family, friends and foes to throw colored powders on each other, laugh and gossip, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks. In the evening, after sobering up, people dress up and visit friends and family.
All in all it is a love-laughter, color, food and fun fest celebrated with one’s near and dear! And so we’d like to invite our dearest Penn State Harrisburg family to join us on this delightful occasion on March 12th, 2017 in the CUB from 3-8pm so that together we can spread the color of love and happiness. Looking forward to seeing you there!
To have a glimpse of the event, please check out the video of Penn State Harrisburg Holi 2016 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8K7fpYCt6U (video credit to Calida Gao).