Hectic Holi
Before we started our trip, Mum and Dad asked us if we had any requests of things to do. Apolline said ‘go to Hawaii’ (we’re going to Tahiti, kind of similar), Raphaël said ‘go to the North Pole’, so we went close to the South Pole and I said, ‘go to Japan’, we are, and celebrate Holi in India. And because my request was accepted, I was eagerly waiting for this moment!
On our first evening in Udaipur, it was Holika Dahan. But what is this Holidakh or Holika or whatever it’s called? Holika Dahan is the evening of the full moon, and also the evening before Holi, the colour festival. Hindus set up huge bonfires during the day and draw rings of colour around it using coloured powder. We were lucky to be in a hotel where a bonfire was set up right in front and we could see it from the restaurant at the top. We first waited with everybody outside to see it being lit. The flames going all the way to the top made it very hot!
But why do they do this? Hindus believe that rubbing their bodies with a paste called ‘ubtan’ (a homemade paste made of herbs) and then throwing it into the fire will grant them good health for the rest of the year. We stayed there a bit longer to chat with two boys who lived nearby and have some Coca-Cola! 🥤I thought that the evening really felt like a family gathering, the people were so friendly! We then went up for dinner and went to bed with a crazy day ahead of us.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of drums and car horns taking over the city. We quickly got dressed in the cheap white clothes we had bought in Thailand so that the colours would be extra-visible! We gobbled up our breakfast (nutella toasts), smothered ourselves in coconut oil (so that the colour wouldn’t stain as much) and with our bags of colour powder in hand we set out.
At first, I thought that you had to throw colour powder in the air but as soon as we came out of the hotel, an old man, with a white moustache above a big smile came towards us and gently stroked our cheeks with colour saying “Happy Holiii!”. I then understood that it’s what people do at Holi! In the streets, you see lots people in pair stroking each other’s cheeks with colour in their hands whilst saying ‘Happy Holi!’
There were also people playing the drums and just generally, everyone was being happy (including us)! Some street corners looked and sounded like night clubs but outside and in daytime!
As you know, in India, there are cows roaming freely in the streets… Apolline, Raphaël and I were wondering if you were allowed to put powder on these holy cows?
We didn’t, just in case…
There were quite a few tourists (men and women) but only Indian men were playing with the colours, the women, apart from a few young ones were nowhere to be seen…
But Holi doesn’t just include colour, children also threw water bombs at us and fired their water pistols at anyone unlucky enough to pass by them! We would run past the kids we saw holding these mighty water bombs! We did get a bit wet but as it was quite hot in Udaipur our clothes dried relatively fast.
We came back to our guest house after a few hours and We took a picture to compare with the one we had taken in the morning. The change is unbelievable! 😱 We started off all white and came back all red and yellow and blue and green and purple! The colours were starting to mix all together and become a sort of brown at some parts. Some of the powders even went onto our skin despite the coconut oil so the shower after took quite a bit longer than usual because we had to scrub really hard to get it off. Today, I still have a bit of colour on my scalp even though it was a week ago!
I really loved Holi. It wasn’t what I expected but it was an amazing experience! It really gave me an insight on the Hindu religion and what religious festivals really are (I’d never been to one!) If you get the chance to go next year, go for it!
Eléonore
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