Colors of Spring: Spokane Indian Community To Host Vibrant Holi Celebration
News Brief by Mia Gallegos | FāVS News
The Spokane Indian Community will be hosting a Holi Celebration on Saturday, March 23, at the Southside Senior and Community Center, 3151 E 27th Ave., on the South Hill. The doors for this event will open at 3:45 p.m. with the festivities beginning at 4 p.m.
Holi is a Hindu holiday that celebrates the advent of spring. Though there is a religious element incorporated into the holiday’s roots, Holi is a time for fun and community as people get together to make food, dance, sing and throw powder paint and colored water into the air. The day is often coined the “festival of colors.”
Rahul Sharma, the president of the Spokane Indian Community, explained that Holi is not an exclusive religious event. Anyone interested can participate in this fun and culturally enriching experience that welcomes the spring season, he said.
“It becomes more than a religious festival. It becomes almost a cultural event where people from all faiths and all religions come to celebrate. It’s a celebration of unity,” Sharma said.
The expected scale for this event is large. Sharma said that the Spokane Indian Community has 500 packets of color that will be available for purchase during Holi.
Free henna and arts and crafts for both adults and children will be out at the event. There will also be authentic vendors at the event serving tastes of India that would be difficult to find anywhere else in Spokane.
Sharma advises participants in Holi wear shoes that they don’t mind getting a bit dirty. He also encourages bringing a towel so that they can clean themselves up a bit following the throwing of the colorful powder packets.
For questions or more information, visit the the event’s website.
