Holi - Festival of Colors

Last year my sister Jessica went to the Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, Utah.

She raved about it and so this year I knew I had to go. It was amazing. There had to have been between 3,000-5,000 people (mostly BYU students) throwing 25,000 bags of colored powdered scented with Jasmine, Lavendar, and Mocha, while jumping and chanting.

I bought my five bucks worth of blue, green, and pink powders and went down into the mix before the ruckus began.

Paul took the high ground on the balcony of the temple where he could stay clear of the worst of the multi-hued dust that was being thrown everywhere and instead take photos of the melee.

Before the throwing started, Paul somehow spotted his brother John making his way through the crowd with his friend (I'm not quite sure what level that relationship is at so I'm just sticking with "friend" for now) Nikki.

They hadn't remembered to bring cash to purchase the bags of powder so I shared mine. We maneuvered through the jostling crowd while Indian music played and dancers performed and were in the center of it all when the effigy of Hollika was lit on fire signaling the beginning of the throwing.

The fragrant pink, purple, yellow, orange, green, magenta, and blue haze was choking it was so thick.

Most people were either grim-faced,

or suppressing laughter with their lips pressed tightly together to keep out the choking rainbow cloud.

But others just inhaled the dust and grinned purplish grins while tossing fistfuls of dust joyously into the air.

By wearing my sunglasses, I was able too keep the worst of the dust from my eyes, but really there wasn't much protection once I was in the thick of things.