As the weather gets warmer, junior Nimisha Kumar enjoys participating in an Indian spring festival known as Holi

Every year, junior Nimisha Kumar said she looks forward to participating in one of the most ancient and popular Indian spring festivals known as Holi, which occurred this past weekend. According to www.holifestival.org, a website created by the Society for the Confluence of Indian Festivals, Holi is also known as the Festival of Colors, which marks the end of winter and rejoices the coming of spring.

“Holi is basically the celebration of good triumphing over evil and the triumph of the devotees,” Kumar said. “This festival has been a part of India for a very long time, and the original meaning of this festival has been slowly lost over time. There are many legends that are connected to this festival.”

According to Kumar, celebrating Holi is just a matter of having colored powder or colored water. People throw the powder and dump the colored water at each other. Sometimes, people get innovative and use water guns with colored water in them to shoot others.

Junior Nikhil Dharan, who celebrated Holi this year with Kumar, believes that this festival is very important to India. “Holi marks the beginning of spring and this season is very important to India because this is the time when all the plants start growing again,” Dharan said. “And just the fact that you can let go of your worries for a while and throw colors at others is important. Holi is a huge part of Indian culture.”

Kumar said that the festival is for everyone to have fun.

“Anyone can celebrate Holi, but it’s more practiced among the younger generations because it’s basically just running around and having fun,” she said. “Although it is a religious festival celebrated by Hindus, it’s not a huge thing where you go to the temple and pray. It’s just everyone going out into the community and using the powders.”

Kumar said there are also many traditional foods and desserts people eat during Holi. People usually make snack foods and desserts such as pakoras, samosas, ladoos and jalebis.

“[Holi] was very fun because I got to get out with friends,” Kumar said. “I celebrated for one hour but it went by fast. We threw colors at each other and had fun.”