Holi Celebration

A majestic festival here in Nepal, Holi is probably one of the most enjoyable feasts in the whole world today. With colorful vibes all over the country in each town, the day is considered as a public holiday and celebrated widely across the nation in specifically two days: The first day is celebrated as Holi by the people of Hilly and Himalayan region, and the next day by the people of Terai. Among many festivals in Nepal, this one is a bit different and unique, considering its way of celebration. This is because in most of the other festivals, people worship a God or a Goddess and some formal rituals are performed. But in the case of Holi, this is not applied and the only things used are colors and water. 

Our house was in preparation for the festival as sun formed its mesmeric union with the sky early in the morning. We had planned at formally beginning the feast from 10, and rightly so. When all the staff and interns outside the house for some reason arrived at around that time, we gathered in the garden wearing white T-shirts (white clothes are considered typical for Holi) and trousers/jeans according to the will. We took a group picture, brought buckets of water and colors. We could see the excitement on our interns’ faces, who obviously had heard a lot about the day from us (probably because we were more excited) but hadn’t been a part of it yet. So, they had been prepared for an active participation. We started with putting colors on each other’s faces and soon everyone’s faces and dress were colored red, purple, green, pink and many more. We also emptied buckets as neighbors around were amused looking at the way we’d been getting wet. Utter craziness yet splendid fun, Holi has always been a favorite festival. 

Then at around noon, we had small children come to our house with some balloons filled with water (Lolas) so we actually went out to their home, which was a children shelter nearby, and gathered in their garden. We had music system playing folk tunes of Holi and some party songs, to which we cracked our steps and burst out to a euphoric dance. The children were pretty smart and talented, who performed b-boying for us.  After the fun was over, we set out to Basantapur as per our plan, because you don’t find craziness and ecstasy anywhere except that place. So we walked, with people hitting lolas on the streets. We finally reached Basantapur, where the city meets for Holi. A concert was being performed by some renowned artists and we danced in the music. The water tank spread a lot of water onto the crowd, which burst out into a loud roar. One could hardly hear himself speak. Such is Holi!

Finally, we walked back home as everyone seems exhausted and needed some rest. We had lunch in the house. So the lovely Holi ended as we came back after a whole new level of excitement, joy and a whole new level of life.