How to spot first-timers at Holi

Although in America this festival is believed to be solely about spring (which it partially is), it actually originates from a myth about a king and his son. It is believed that this king was adamant on everyone worshipping him and therefore, when his own son, Prahlad worshipped Lord Vishnu, another god, he was not pleased.

After many failed attempts at killing Prahlad, he finally asked his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad on her lap (Note: Holika had a special power where she could walk through fire unscathed). Much to the king’s dismay, Lord Vishnu saved Prahlad and Holika ended up burning to death. ‘Holi’ is derived from ‘Holika’ and is celebrated as the triumph of good over evil.

TLDR: Basically just a cool, Indian myth.

As someone who has played Holi in India for the last 9 years, the idea of experiencing this festival in Berkeley was extremely intriguing to me.

Consequently, I decided to gather a troop of my friends and head over to the Foothill parking lot to see what Holi is like here and how people celebrate it.

SPOILER ALERT: It’s pretty different from back in India.

If you hear “hey, are you going to Holly this Sunday?”

Am I going where?

Chances are if you hear your friend say that, he/she is a first-timer. But hey, I am going to help you out – it’s actually pronounced “Ho-lee”.

There. Now you are one step ahead of where you started.

If you see random, frequent puffs of colored powder in the air

This was one of the differences that stood out most to me. As opposed to my friends and family mercilessly smearing my face with color, my friends were now taking handfuls color and just launching it into the air or at each other.

This then leads me to my next point:

If you hear “but this isn’t working, we don’t look as colorful as we should“

Unfortunately, throwing handfuls of color at people is not as effective as you’d think.
You actually end up looking more colorful and having a lot more fun if you aren’t scared to make physical contact with your friends.

If you hear “I don’t even know the guy who randomly threw color at me. Weird.”

I think one of the nicest things about Holi is how it builds community and brings people together. It doesn’t matter whether or not you know someone, you are *usually* allowed to throw color at them. So, don’t be afraid of branching out and throwing color at someone new.
That being said, it is important to realize that you don’t know them, so please judge the situation and be careful about the above point, which applies only to people you are comfortable with.

If you see pink foreheads and nails

Granted, Holi colors are extremely difficult to remove for everyone but the more you’ve played Holi, the better you are at figuring out some techniques to avoid showing up to class looking like the pink panther the next day.

(Tip: try applying oil before you go to play and then after multiple attempts, lots of patience, water and soap, you should be better off)

Expect to look like this by the time you’re done.

After this Sunday, I can safely say playing Holi in Berkeley is a totally different experience from what I’m used to. Rather than allocating half a day to the festival, I only spent 2 hours celebrating it this time.

As opposed to religious ceremonies, tons of mouthwatering Indian food and hours of color, dancing and music, I was only only exposed to the last of those three. Despite the many changes, Holi this year was extremely fun and I had a great time.

This is undoubtedly one of my favorite festivals and if you ever end up going, you’ll see why.