Minnesotans gear up for Holi, the Hindu ‘Festival of Colors’
Holi honors the arrival of spring. Hindus also believe it's an opportunity to repair strained relationships.
Nikki Tundel | MPR News
The Minnesota Hindu community is gearing up for the annual Holi festival starting March 25. Holi marks the arrival of spring. You may recognize it from iconic photos of streets — and people — covered in red, green, and yellow paint.
Holi is often called “The Festival of Colors” and the date changes depending on the Hindu lunar calendar. The Hindu Society of Minnesota is partnering with Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis to throw a big Holi festival on Saturday, and Shajive Jeganathan the president of the Hindu Society, joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: The Minnesota Hindu community is gearing up for the annual Holi Festival this weekend. Holi marks the arrival of spring. You may recognize it from iconic photos of streets and people covered in red, green, and yellow paint. Holi is often called the festival of colors and the date changes depending on the Hindu lunar calendar.
This year, it's on March 25th. But since that is a Monday, most people are celebrating this weekend. The Hindu Society of Minnesota is partnering with Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis to throw a big, Holi festival on Saturday. And Shaviv Sajeev Jagannathan is the president of the Hindu society and Sajeev is with us. Welcome.
Shajive Jeganathan: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. And you got my name right.
CATHY WURZER: Well, I tried hard. Thanks. I appreciate you joining us. I have never heard of Holi. Tell me a little bit more about it.
Shajive Jeganathan: Absolutely. So Holi, as you as you rightfully put it, is the festival of colors. And it is a festival that we celebrate to mark the arrival of spring. Now, one could argue that if you look outside today, it doesn't look like spring. But anywhere else in the world at this very moment it is spring.
And so to celebrate the festival of spring, usually during Holi, you have the use of colors and music and dance and it's a huge community celebration.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like great, great fun. What are some of the rituals and traditions around Holi?
Shajive Jeganathan : So on the eve of Holi, which is called Holika Dahan, we would light a bonfire. And the light of the bonfire is to signify the chasing away of bad spirits and starting something new. So on the eve of Holi, you light the bonfire, people chant around it. And then, the day after, so which is the day of Holi, we celebrate with music and dance and Holi powder.
You'll find kids with water balloons with Holi powder inside of it throwing it at each other. So it's a very big communal celebration on the day of and the day before.
CATHY WURZER: When you say Holi powder, are we talking about different colors?
Shajive Jeganathan : Yes. So different colors. People use-- there are 8 or 9 different colors that people mix and just throw around or mix it with water or just throw it at each other. It's a very vibrant and colorful festival.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like it. Yes, indeed. I'm going to assume that there are-- some of the origins are pretty embedded in Hindu mythology.
Shajive Jeganathan : Yes, interesting you bring that up. So Holi has a very interesting legend about a Prince and his evil aunt. And so without getting too far into the details of it, it's basically a story of triumphing good over evil. And it's a story of love and story of community.
CATHY WURZER: So triumph of good over evil, beginning of spring after a long winter, it's all kind of coming together here. I'm wondering, how would you-- how are you planning to celebrate at the Midtown Global Market?
Shajive Jeganathan : Yeah, so this Saturday the 23rd, it's a family friendly celebration. It's a free event from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. We are partnering with the Midtown Global Market. There will be classical and non-classical dances. There'll be some Bollywood dances, some folk dances.
We'll also have some live musicians who will be playing the tabla, the piano, some violin. We'll also have some kids that are going to be narrating the story of Holi and the legend that I just talked about. And then, on top of that, we'll have some local artists who will be present as well, who will be singing.
And this year, we're doing something a little different. We're actually going to have henna artists on site for those who want to try out some henna on their hands.
CATHY WURZER: I love henna. I'm thinking about the festival of lights Diwali, which is also really a cool celebration in the Hindu calendar. And you're talking about Holi. Talk a little bit if you could, please, about these two festivals really celebrate joy and vibrancy and why is that so important?
Shajive Jeganathan : That's a great question. So the beauty of both Diwali and Holi is they're both about bringing people together from all walks of life, right? It's about community, it's about family, it's about having a joyous celebration. And they both have a lot of similarities in the sense that they're both about lightness and coming away from the darkness and finding that happiness and joy.
And they're both become global phenomenons now over the last few years where you're finding Diwali and Holi both being celebrated around the world. And I find that very fascinating and I'm grateful to see that the culture is spreading so much. And it's, again, about love and coming together as a community and as a people.
CATHY WURZER: Boy, Sajeev, we really need that nowadays across the spectrum. Yeah I wish you happy Holi. I think it sounds like it's going to be fantastic and Thanks for talking about it.
Shajive Jeganathan : Thank you very much and I appreciate you having me.
CATHY WURZER: It's been a pleasure. Sajeev Jagannathan is the president of the Hindu Society of Minnesota. Again, you can attend the Holi festival this Saturday, it is at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis 12:00 until 2:00.
This year, it's on March 25th. But since that is a Monday, most people are celebrating this weekend. The Hindu Society of Minnesota is partnering with Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis to throw a big, Holi festival on Saturday. And Shaviv Sajeev Jagannathan is the president of the Hindu society and Sajeev is with us. Welcome.
Shajive Jeganathan: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. And you got my name right.
CATHY WURZER: Well, I tried hard. Thanks. I appreciate you joining us. I have never heard of Holi. Tell me a little bit more about it.
Shajive Jeganathan: Absolutely. So Holi, as you as you rightfully put it, is the festival of colors. And it is a festival that we celebrate to mark the arrival of spring. Now, one could argue that if you look outside today, it doesn't look like spring. But anywhere else in the world at this very moment it is spring.
And so to celebrate the festival of spring, usually during Holi, you have the use of colors and music and dance and it's a huge community celebration.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like great, great fun. What are some of the rituals and traditions around Holi?
Shajive Jeganathan : So on the eve of Holi, which is called Holika Dahan, we would light a bonfire. And the light of the bonfire is to signify the chasing away of bad spirits and starting something new. So on the eve of Holi, you light the bonfire, people chant around it. And then, the day after, so which is the day of Holi, we celebrate with music and dance and Holi powder.
You'll find kids with water balloons with Holi powder inside of it throwing it at each other. So it's a very big communal celebration on the day of and the day before.
CATHY WURZER: When you say Holi powder, are we talking about different colors?
Shajive Jeganathan : Yes. So different colors. People use-- there are 8 or 9 different colors that people mix and just throw around or mix it with water or just throw it at each other. It's a very vibrant and colorful festival.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like it. Yes, indeed. I'm going to assume that there are-- some of the origins are pretty embedded in Hindu mythology.
Shajive Jeganathan : Yes, interesting you bring that up. So Holi has a very interesting legend about a Prince and his evil aunt. And so without getting too far into the details of it, it's basically a story of triumphing good over evil. And it's a story of love and story of community.
CATHY WURZER: So triumph of good over evil, beginning of spring after a long winter, it's all kind of coming together here. I'm wondering, how would you-- how are you planning to celebrate at the Midtown Global Market?
Shajive Jeganathan : Yeah, so this Saturday the 23rd, it's a family friendly celebration. It's a free event from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. We are partnering with the Midtown Global Market. There will be classical and non-classical dances. There'll be some Bollywood dances, some folk dances.
We'll also have some live musicians who will be playing the tabla, the piano, some violin. We'll also have some kids that are going to be narrating the story of Holi and the legend that I just talked about. And then, on top of that, we'll have some local artists who will be present as well, who will be singing.
And this year, we're doing something a little different. We're actually going to have henna artists on site for those who want to try out some henna on their hands.
CATHY WURZER: I love henna. I'm thinking about the festival of lights Diwali, which is also really a cool celebration in the Hindu calendar. And you're talking about Holi. Talk a little bit if you could, please, about these two festivals really celebrate joy and vibrancy and why is that so important?
Shajive Jeganathan : That's a great question. So the beauty of both Diwali and Holi is they're both about bringing people together from all walks of life, right? It's about community, it's about family, it's about having a joyous celebration. And they both have a lot of similarities in the sense that they're both about lightness and coming away from the darkness and finding that happiness and joy.
And they're both become global phenomenons now over the last few years where you're finding Diwali and Holi both being celebrated around the world. And I find that very fascinating and I'm grateful to see that the culture is spreading so much. And it's, again, about love and coming together as a community and as a people.
CATHY WURZER: Boy, Sajeev, we really need that nowadays across the spectrum. Yeah I wish you happy Holi. I think it sounds like it's going to be fantastic and Thanks for talking about it.
Shajive Jeganathan : Thank you very much and I appreciate you having me.
CATHY WURZER: It's been a pleasure. Sajeev Jagannathan is the president of the Hindu Society of Minnesota. Again, you can attend the Holi festival this Saturday, it is at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis 12:00 until 2:00.
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