Holi festival brings joy, colour to Hamilton
Dusk at Hamilton Lake was painted in colour on Sunday evening.
About 100 people, young and old, attended Hamilton’s Holi Festival at Innes Common, put on by Waikato Indian Association.
People painted each other with purple, red and pink powder, then tucked into a plate of tasty food – including Pav Bhaji, samosa, coriander chutney and hot chai.
The festival is a chance to leave the weight of the past behind and embrace positivity, attendee Kam Mistry said. Mistry is a photographer who enjoys capturing the colour and expressions of the festival with his camera.
‘‘In India and Fiji, people fill water guns or water balloons with colour and throw them at each other. Here, we mostly use the coloured powder.’’
The Hindu festival is traditionally celebrated in spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The event celebrates good triumphing over evil, President of the Waikato Indian Association Tarun Kumar told
He estimated there were tens of thousands of people of Indian descent in the wider Waikato region. But within that there were multiple ethnic groups, religions, languages and cultures and the association aimed to bring the diversity together, Kumar said. Seeing everyone in purples, greens, blues and yellows symbolised that everyone was equal – it doesn’t matter what colour, caste or ethnicity people were, Kumar said.
‘‘The vibrant colours represent leaving the past behind and, putting colours back in our life.’’
Although Kumar was very pleased with the turnout, he hoped more Hamiltonians would embrace the event in years to come.
‘‘We would like to see more than just Indians here celebrating, I would like to see wider ethnic groups coming in.’’
Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma said the Hamilton electorate had grown to be the 10th largest Indian electorate in the country. The other nine electorates with the most Indian voters were all in Auckland, he said. Sharma was the first person of Indian descent to win an electorate – all other candidates have been list candidates, he said. Holi, like Diwali and Eid, had grown from a solely Indian festival to a more multicultural one.
‘‘You don’t have to be Indian to understand Holi, just like you don’t need to be Bangledeshi to enjoy the cricket. It’s up to all of us to be open to understanding different cultures.’’