It was a colorful afternoon at Naperville’s Riverwalk, on Saturday as, community members gathered to celebrate the Indian festival known as Holi.
The event signifies the arrival of spring, with participants throwing colored powder in the air, and on each other.
“The best thing about it is the kids. They seem to be having loads of fun chucking color powder at everybody. I had a couple of kids like Ninja snipe me out of nowhere, so we had to reload on some dye to get back at them. But, it’s great. I absolutely love it,” said participant Jason Thalman.
Get to know more about the Indian Festival
Holi Social Impact
This is the 10th anniversary of the local event, with hundreds of people participating in the fun.
“Everybody is just having fun. And everybody is really nice and when you throw colors at somebody they’ll thank you for it,” said Sandy Kazenko, another participant. “So it’s a lot of fun and I wish it wasn’t just in the springtime we’d like to do this all throughout the summer.”
Holi is thousands of years old, and originated from India. The social gathering invites people to forget about their differences and make peace.
“When we are together that means we love each other, we like each other’s company. And we forget the hard feelings we have for each other, just forget about everything,” said event organizer Sarita Sharma.
The Significance of Holi
No one came away clean, but most left with a smile and a closer sense of community.
“We all are one, one creation,” said Sharma. “And we have to respect each other for that and then celebrate each other. That’s the whole message of this festival.”
Naperville News 17’s Christian Canizal reports.
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