‘More color you have, the more you are loved.’ Holi Hindu festival comes to Miami
It was a rainbow-colored, vibrant affair Sunday afternoon in Miami. Patrons of Kendall Indian Hammocks Park tossed colorful powders and sprayed water on friends and strangers while dancing and singing.
No, it wasn’t another Miami rave, but one of the most prominent Hindu celebrations called Holi, or the “festival of colors.”
The festival, hosted by the Miami Association of Indians for Art and Culture (MAIACA), brought out over 300 people to the Kendall park and was one of several celebrations throughout South Florida marking the holiday.
Mainly observed in South Asia but recognized all over the world, Holi marks the arrival of spring and good triumphing over evil. It’s a joyful occasion rooted in ancient traditions and mythology that’s meant to bring together friends and family. Organizers say Sunday’s celebration was a success.
The event was a family affair, with participants of all ages showing up to, with permission, smear colored powder on people’s faces, clothes and bodies, and splash water using water guns.
The festival also had a plethora of traditional Indian foods and drinks for sale, like puri puri, samosa chaat, chicken biryani and lassi. There were traditional Indian dance performances by Miami Jhankar, an Indian dance group led by Megha Gupta.
Later, local Bollywood dance choreographer and instructor Geeta Dias took the stage to explain some of the key aspects of Holi.
“Holi is a very important festival … because it brings together people and it breaks all social barriers,” said Dias, who grew up in Mumbai, India. “It’s fostering joy, it’s fostering love and it’s fostering communities, too.”
More color, more love
The smearing of the colorful powder — two free bags with the purchase of a festival ticket — isn’t just a fun aesthetic. The meaning comes from various stories in Hindu mythology.
One, more light-hearted story is about the deity Krishna — whose skin was blue — and his love Radha, the goddess of love and devotion. Krishna, according to the ancient story, was embarrassed of his different, darker skin color. At the suggestion of his mother, he smears Radha’s face with paint so they can look alike. It worked, and Radha ends up falling in love with Krishna.
“Putting color on each of us — on our clothes, on our hands, on our bodies, on our faces — is a sign of affection,” said Dias to the crowd at the festival.
Keshav Bhattar, 27, came out to the Holi celebration after working a 12-hour night shift at a nearby hospital. Bhattar and his wife, both doctors, grew up going to Holi celebrations in India and were starting to feel homesick after moving to Miami three years ago.
“It was good to find an event like this … this is pretty much how we would celebrate it at home,” Bhattar said. “But back in India it gets pretty intense where the colors that they use would actually stain your skin for a week.”
Bhattar said he loves celebrating the festival because it’s often a way to see family and friends he wouldn’t normally get to visit.
“It’s good to have a lot of people from our background, from our country, celebrating with all the people from Miami who are equally participating, dancing with us, embracing the colors,” Bhattar said.
Sandra de Mel brought her partner, David McMillan, and friend Harry Ramsamooj from Orlando to join in the festivities.
The group, made up of Hindus and non-Hindus, said they enjoyed celebrating the festival because of the expressions of joy, themes of rebirth, spring and of course, “the colors are fun too,” said Ramsamooj.
De Mel said she organized a festival at her medical school two years in a row to bring the tradition to fellow students.
This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and from donors comprising the South Florida Jewish and Muslim Communities, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
