As spring is fast approaching, people throughout the world, including Santa Clarita, are celebrating the Hindu holiday of Holi.
Marked by vibrant colors and excitement for the new season, variations of mythological accounts indicate that Holi signifies both the triumph of good over evil, as well as love.
This year, Holi took place on Friday. The local chapter of CRY America, a nonprofit organization aiming to advocate for “underprivileged children, addressing their rights, education, health care, and overall development,” according to its website, set up a Holi festival at Castaic Lake on Saturday.
L.A. Action Center Leads Varnica Singh and Andy Das discussed the significance of setting up the event for residents to enjoy.
“Holi, which is a very popular Indian festival, welcomes spring and it represents joy, happiness. We wanted to bring this event to Santa Clarita — this is our third time doing it here. We are doing this for CRY America, which helps less privileged kids in the U.S.A. and India,” Singh said. “Castaic Lake was closed for (weeks) because of the fire, so part of the proceeds are going to benefit them.”
“Holi is always a fun event. Everybody is coming to enjoy this — celebrate the happiness together. The only motto is to the valley, and have more people joining us in the future,” Das said. “The color is ready, we are ready for the photo booth, the DJ, the music and entertainment.”
Despite the wind being a potential challenge in tossing the colors into the air, that didn’t stop volunteers and attendees from celebrating with the organic, herbal colors, each of which has a symbolic meaning.
“I think every color signifies joy, happiness and overall, welcoming spring with a lot of positive vibes. I think in our culture, red is more related to prosperity and love. Yellow is for brightness, smiles and happiness. Green represents brotherhood, or the thing that bonds people together,” Singh said.
“Every color has its own significance. From a historic point of view, it was used to indicate everything: peace, love, joy, happiness, laughter, a long, healthy life. Everybody uses colors from their own choices, but we are here to celebrate the colors of life, because this is a festival of vibrancy,” Das said.
CRY America member and Das’ wife, Manali, discussed wearing white to absorb the various colors, comparing it to a blank canvas.
“We enjoy celebrating Holi with everyone. It’s our biggest festival back in India, too. We have grown up playing with colors our whole life. The crowd has a very good reason and purpose to do this. Everything we collect, revenue-wise, all goes for donation,” Manali said. “Traditionally, back in India, we would all wear a white-colored outfit. So when you put colors on, you can see them, and that’s the whole purpose. You have a clean canvas to paint, basically.”
Attendee Shilpi Singh discussed the enjoyment derived from gathering as a community for such festivities.
“It’s great to see everybody celebrate love, laugh, dance. It makes you feel like we are all united and from the same world. Now we have more people here, so why not celebrate with everyone?” Shilpi said. “We are all just one color.”
