A group of Nepali students carry their friend toward a hose-wielding festival-goer. Traditionally,
the Holi Festival involves coloring one’s friends in powdered paint and then soaking them head to
toe in colorful hues. The Lion’s Roar / Melanie Mann

Students celebrated the arrival of spring with flying colors and water at the fifth-annual Holi Festival. This high-energy festival of colors meant some were playfully dragged to get hosed by their peers and then powdered with eye-catching hues. 

The Nepalese Student Association at Southeastern hosted the event in the field in front of the Pennington Student Activity Center last Friday. 

All were welcome to gather and enjoy the free celebration with refreshments provided by Multicultural and International Student Affairs and Campus Activities Board. This traditional welcoming of spring is important to NSAS and holds great meaning for the people of Nepal, as this reminds them of their home. 

“It actually originated from a traditional belief, a [Hindu] point-of-view,” said Binit Poudel, president of NSAS and senior chemistry major. “Later on, every kind of religion in Nepal and India celebrated it. The main purpose is the victory of good over evil. We celebrate this victory through colors.” 

The celebration started with a few games of kabaddi and putting bright powder on one another. 

“Kabaddi is a type of game that we played all over Nepal,” said Poudel. “We like to play because we’re all friends when we meet here.”

Many members of NSAS look forward to Holi Festival because it is a time for fellowship and to leave the rush of everyday life behind for a short time. 

“This is my favorite festival personally,” said Priyanka Singh, a junior sociology major. “We celebrate it every year back at home. I love colors and I love the fact that it’s one of the few events that we as an organization do where all of us come together. We’re all so busy and this happens once a semester.”

The Holi Festival at Southeastern has gained more attendance over the last five years thanks to sponsors like Recreational Sports and Wellness, CAB and MISA.

“It’s pretty much grown up until the last couple of years,” said Brendan Daigle, coordinator of MISA. “We’ve had about the same number of people for the last two or three years since we’ve been doing it right here.”

Though the weather was cold, spirits remained high and many were pulled into the fun. 

“They basically just attacked me, dragged me and put water all over me,” said Anup Ghimire, a junior computer science major. “Everybody comes and it’s that time of the year when everyone’s feeling happy and they’re all in a jolly mood.”

Often times, entire groups of people would choose one friend to bring to the person manning the garden hose jetting out cold water. Then they would team up to dump purple, blue, pink, yellow, green or orange powder on the person’s head and face, making sure they received the full effect of celebrating Holi.

For more information on more events put together by the Multicultural and International Student Affairs, check out their page on the university website.

Freshman computer science major Tika Datta Pahadi covers senior biology major
Carley Furlan’s face with green powder to welcome spring by celebrating the fifth-annual Holi festival
of colors held outside the Pennington Student Activity Center on Friday.
The Lion’s Roar / Maria Goddard