Erin The Great

A few days ago, I went to the Hindu temple in Spanish Fork, Ut for the ‘Festival of Colors’. My religion isn’t Hindu but I thought it would be fun to experience another religious custom (hence the reason I observed Lent this year).

The festival of colors or Holi, is a Hindu tradition celebrating the burning of the demoness ‘Holika’. Holi started with some entertainment and food and then worked into the reason everyone was there; the Bon-fire and the throwing of colors. To my understanding the significance of throwing the colors is medicinal. Because it’s a spring festival, it’s believed that the changing of the seasons brings on illness and viral flu’s. The colors are to help you to NOT to get sick.

This is funny because research has found that the colors contain components like asbestos and heavy metals that can cause asthma and skin disease…. Now they tell me! I’m sure glad someone slapped a whole handful of it in my eye, and like everyone else who was there, breathing in copious amounts of it!

Aside from the colors of death I must say that I had a lot of fun. I arrived with some old friends from back home and was amazed at how many people were all ready there. After about an hour of looking around, quite a crowd had formed and my group was right in the middle of it.

With very little warning I found my self gasping for air as hundreds of people started splashing each other with powdered colors. The smell was wonderful but my lungs weren’t happy with the amount of powder they were collecting. You couldn’t see even a foot in front of you because there was an eruption of brilliant colors everywhere.

After the dust started to sort of settle, you could see everyone just covered in different hues. Head to toe coverage on everybody in the massive crowd. After the eruption, the music, chanting and moshing started. After the moshing started, and just like clock work, the crowd surfing started. I was really excited because I wanted to crowd surf but everyone in the mosh pit started dropping the crowed surfers right and left… That put an end to that idea.

Even though it was a Hindu holiday, the place was over run by LDS people aka ‘Mormons’ everywhere. It was Like Mormon Woodstock ’08. I happen to LDS but looking around at all my crazy counter parts, it was like ‘Mormons gone wild’. I know I was there to learn and experience another culture, and I was a little taken back at the lack of respect and the need to just ‘cut loose’. I think there is a difference between experiencing something new, and just going to go crazy and have people wonder how many different drugs you’re on.

I guess all it takes in the ‘Mormon Bubble’ is a crazy Hindu festival and a bunch of dust color… I’d hate to see some of these self-oppressed souls hit Vegas…. Oh dear!