Students celebrate Holi, the Festival of Colors

Colors flew all across Westhampton Green as the South Asian Student Alliance held its annual Holi event on Sunday, March 19.

Students across the campus attended this event, throwing various color powders and water balloons to kick off the celebration with Bollywood music blasting. Attendees were provided with drinks and food, including the likes of samosas, chicken 65 and gulab jamun.

“Holi marks a new beginning for everyone. So if you're having a bad day or you're having a bad year, this is the time when you put all that behind and you start something fresh,” sophomore Reeja Khan, vice president of SASA, said. Khan shared that this event marks the era of beginnings, as it is also the start of spring, she said.

Khan said that the event was catered to creating community at the University of Richmond. 

“People of any ethnicity, any identity, if they want to, can come and just play and have fun with us. That's the whole gist of it,” she said.

First-year Kate Flanagan shared her excitement about the event, especially given that it was her first time attending. 

“The best part is getting to take out your anger on people in a loving way,” Flanagan said. With the success of the event, she said that she hopes to take part in it again.

Junior Kiran Saini shared her eagerness to celebrate Holi, despite the cold weather.

“[The cold weather] hasn't stopped anyone from really embracing what this event is about and just being together, and I think that that really speaks to the culture, and the community that we have here,” Saini said.

From the varieties of colors available this year to the food, Saini said that despite the previous high-quality iteration of the event, she believed that SASA had once again lived up to her expectations. In three words, she described the event as “colorful, colorful and eccentric.”

The event also helped ignite a feeling of home away from home for First-year Padmaja Karki.

Karki compared the event to her past impressions in Nepal over two years ago, explaining that while it is calmer, the “vibe” felt similar to the likes of prior Holi celebrations, she said. 

“I'm glad that I'm getting to experience [Holi] away from home as well,” she said.

Contact multimedia editor Gareth Woo at gareth.woo@richmond.edu.