An Experience with Holi, a Hindu Festivity

Holi is a Hindu spring festival in India and Nepal, also known as the festival of colors. Hundreds of people, dressed in white, come together to share in music, love, dance and visual euphoria. The party was finally going to start and we were late. Carmen, Reem and I ran fast as the streaming rain to Carmen’s house. Everyone had to dress as white as a sheet. We changed and we looked like a white ghost except we had nothing on our faces.

We were offered a ride from two of our girlfriends Abrar, and Philippa and we went together to the party. We finally got to St.Julians, all the people dressed in white and it felt like being stuck in an empty room with four white walls. Around 6 p.m. the door was still closed and people were waiting. The security guards were in all shapes, one of them looked like an orange where the others were as enormous as a door.

All of us were just standing by the beach waiting for the door to open, and thinking how we can get in without our ID cards. We all were underage except Carmen was 18, and the Holi Color party is 17 above. We had never been to a Holi party, yet we have seen videos and pictures. So we had a bit of an image about it, and comparing it to things that you can do at the island it’s a complete different experience. There aren’t much colors in Malta, it’s= all made out of limestone, old buildings, trees, and seas nothing more than that. So it’s basically all the same color. For a moment I looked at the walls with closed eyes and saw wonderful swirling colors.

Out of nowhere we heard people braying and they’re noise rose as the door opened, as they marched inside and attacked the poor orange. We went in all together without them checking us. We couldn’t believe any of what happened, it was like a miracle happened. Carmen screamed like a howler monkey from excitement. I heard Reem saying “Raghed careful”, when I turned back I thought it was sprinkling but then I looked at it probably there were different type of colors all over me, it was something amazing.

We walked towards where the crowd was, at the end there was the stage with a DJ, large speakers, and camera’s. The people there, were with different ages, skin colors and what united them was that all dressed in white. When the DJ lowers the music and counts down from 10 to 1, everyone throws the colors up as if they were in prison and finally they were let free. Hearing people chat and laugh quietly like they were in class or in a serious place.