Religion and colours
COLOURFUL powders, joy, and religious songs were the order of the day yesterday for Hindus around the world as they celebrated Holi, the annual festival of colours.
Often referred to as New Year celebration for the faithful, Holi is special. This is when Hindus share a common theme and it brims with colour, religious songs and the sharing of food. There is funfare and joy.
Colours, however, are a significant part of the celebrations.
Holi is about a new beginning. This is when the faithful consider an end to past errors and conflicts and they will look forward with hope and renewed vigour to a new beginning.
In our context, as a multiracial and multi-religious country, we have an opportunity to appreciate an event that we can all learn from.
As we move on with our lives, doing the things we do, and going through the motions of everyday life, perhaps we should remind ourselves that we all make mistakes.
Let’s face it, the sun will rise from the East and set in the West. The routes we will travel remain the same unless the potholes have been covered, or there has been some upgrading works done, or potholes have appeared suddenly, but they remain in the same place. Some things like traffic congestion will still be there around the same time that we usually experience them in urban centres.
Such is life!
As human beings, we all have moments of weakness. So we can choose to go through the motions of life, and be held back by these obstacles in front of us, or we can accept them, learn from them, and take confident steps forward, embracing change!
We can look back at them and learn to make decisions that are good for us all. We all can choose to forgive and get over conflicting views.
Yesterday was when Hindus around the world looked forward with optimism and hope, to a new beginning.
The faithful will plan to take a positive step forward, having learnt from the past, and appreciated the need to embrace lessons with a positive mind.
No matter what religion we belong to, there is one common theme that binds us together.
There is an appreciation of good over evil and acknowledgement of the fact that we all make mistakes.
It isn’t easy to learn from our mistakes and move forward, however, it is something that has the potential to make our lives a whole lot better.
Such festivals should remind us about who we are. We are fun loving people. We value friendship and truly appreciate many other things together.
We share common passions on the sports field for instance, and we show our true multiracial colours every time we celebrate such events as Holi.
Fiji definitely needs such events to bring our people together.
So let’s reflect on life, on our lives and consider being positive catalysts for change if we can!