The South Asian Student Association (SASA) will celebrate Holi on March 24,
2012.
Saturday, March 24th, SASA will present the Holi Festival of Colors from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Student Rec Fields.
Free t-shirts will be provided to the first 250 participants.
The Holi Festival of Colors will feature live cultural performances, free food, and a festival of color.
Holi (also called Holaka or Phagwa)
is an annual festival celebrated on the day after the full moon in the
Hindu month of Phalguna (early March). It celebrates spring,
commemorates various events in Hindu mythology and is time of
disregarding social norms and indulging in general merrymaking. Holi is probably the least religious of Hindu
holidays. During Holi, Hindus attend a public bonfire, spray friends and
family with colored powders and water, and generally go a bit wild in
the streets.History and Meaning of Holi
Originally, Holi was an agricultural festival celebrating the arrival of spring. This aspect still plays a significant part in the festival in the form of the colored powders: Holi is a time when man and nature alike throw off the gloom of winter and rejoice in the colors and liveliness of spring.
The legend commemorated by the festival of Holi involves an evil king named Hiranyakashipu. He forbade his son Prahlad from worshipping Vishnu, but Radhu continued to do offer prayers to the god. Getting angry with his son, Hiranyakashipu challenged Prahlad to sit on a pyre with his wicked aunt Holika who was believed to be immune to fire. Prahlad accepted the challenge and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as Holika was burnt to death, while Prahlad survived without a scar to show for it. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.
Holi is spread out over two days (it used to be five, and in some places it is longer). The entire holiday is associated with a loosening of social restrictions normally associated with caste, sex, status and age. Holi thus bridges social gaps and brings people together: employees and employers, men and women, rich and poor, young and old. The central ritual of Holi is the throwing and applying of colored water and powders on friends and family, which gives the holiday its common name "Festival of Colors.Holi Rituals and Customs
A common saying heard during Holi is bura na mano, Holi hai ("don't feel offended, it's Holi")