Yedhartha Sai Reddy Chinnasani

Mr. Denis Wisner

World History Tue/Thu 1st Period

March 18th, 2017.

Hindu Holi Festival celebrated at YMCA in Basking Ridge

http://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/india/why-holi-is-celebrated

http://www.newjerseyhills.com/bernardsville_news/news/hindu-holi-festival-celebrated-at-ymca-

in-basking-ridge/article_13ca3499-00f6-5b36-b639-990b4732e703.html

Key Vocabulary from the Article (Define at least 4).

Phalguna: Phalguna is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar,

Phalguna is the twelfth month of the year, and corresponds with February/March in the

Gregorian calendar.

Pyre: a heap of combustible material, especially one for burning a corpse as part of a

funeral ceremony.

Pooja: the act of worship.

Auspicious: conducive to success; favorable.

Scriptures: the sacred writings of a religion.

Summary of the Event (at least 3 major points; each point will have its own paragraph)

A community of 300 of all faiths enjoyed traditional Indian foods, music, and dancing on

Thursday, March 9th at the second annual Holi festival at the Somerset Hills YMCA in Basking
Ridge. The YMCA is a charitable organization made for people to work side-by-side to

strengthen the community. The lead volunteer group created to celebrate traditions of different

cultures in a diverse community. Thanks to a lot of people volunteering and organizing the event

for the diverse cultures to have fun. This event attracted a lot of Indians because it gave them an

opportunity to celebrate a different culture and gave them a sense of unity. Beckie Laubscher

said that the more we know and understand each other, the more love there is to share.

Holi, also known as the festival of colors, is celebrated on the full moon day falling in the

month of Phalguna. Many different colors and water is thrown on each other. They have loud

music, drums and etc to celebrate this major festival. As the scripts said, Holi signifies a victory

over evil. The festival of Holi is associated with the legend of Hiranyakashipu.

Hiranyakashipu was an evil king that wanted to get revenge on Lord Vishnu for his

younger brother. He prayed for years and after he was granted a boon he considered himself as a

god. He asked his people to worship him. He had a son named Prahlada who worshiped Lord

Vishnu. The king was so hard headed that he decides to kill his own son because he refused to

worship him. The king had a sister called Holika who was immune to fire, to sit on the pyre of

fire with Prahalad in her lap. Prahalad chanted Lord Vishnus name throughout the fire that kept

him from burning, but Holika turned into ashes. After this Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyakashipu.

But the death of Holika that is associated with Holi.

Holi became a water and color festival because of in the times of Lord Krishna, people

used to celebrate with colors and water. Krishna played with his friends at Vrindavan and Gokul.

This ritual kept passed down til now where this is one of the major festivals that are celebrated in

India. Holi is a spring festival to say bye to the winter. In some of the temples in India, there are
carvings about these stories on the walls. Nowadays many of the people don't play the festivals

because of the chemicals inside the colors that might mess with our skin.

YMCA enjoyed it because of the attraction they got from all these diverse people. The Y is

always looking new members who can bring the community good knowledge said the co-chair.

They wanted to many people interacting in the community, which they accomplished by hosting

this event. YMCA felt happy with all the people who came to their event and how others are

excited about the future events. They are hoping to get more people interacted for the other

festivals like Diwali, New years, Ugadi and etc.

Opinion of the Event (at least 3 sentences).

I loved the festival of Holi and why it is celebrated because it is fun and a way to interact

with all your community. I have been celebrating this festival with colors for the past 10 years

and I never got hurt from the colors. I remember when the colors on me took 2 weeks to clean

because of my friends spraying me with water and colors. I also got hit on my head with eggs

and tomatoes because it was like a thing you have to do on that day. I loved playing colors with

my friends and family. We usually have these events in the corpus with non-harming colors and

at least 250 people playing with colors.

I love how YMCA are trying to get their community interacted with different festivals

and. Even Americans are trying to get involved with these Hindu festivals hosted by these

communities. I wish more Americans or diverse people go more to these events and have a fun

time. An event like these should have more people than 250.
Relate your Event to a Historical Event (compare and contrast with the current event).

Diwali is one of the other important festivals in India. People lit up the streets of Mumbai

during November 11-15 at night. Diwali is celebrated in all the parts of India. People buy new

clothes and jewelry to wear on the days of Diwali. In the morning people usually go to the

temple and do pooja to Lord Rama.

People believe that during Diwali, Goddess Lakshmi(god of wealth) will come to their

houses if they are clean and lit up with candles. People usually bet and play other games these

few auspicious days because the goddess of wealth is on their side. Diwali is also like a new year

for business where shopkeepers and trades open new account books.

Diwali is celebrated because of Lord Rama came from Vanavasa. Vanavasa is where the

person leaves the kingdom for 14 years and they cant show their real identity. Diwali is to

celebrate the coming back of Rama while Holi is celebrated for a victory against the evil. Holi is

as popular as Diwali, but people love Diwali more than Holi. Diwali is more of a clean and a

family festival while Holi is friends and other people. Diwali is 3 to 4 days long, but Holi is 1

day long and it usually in the morning,

Relate your Event to the Theme

This event is related to the theme Cultural Interaction. It goes under religion and beliefs.

This is an interaction between many different cultures coming together and having fun. These

two events are one of the major events that Indians celebrate, not only because we were told by

the scriptures, but us to have fun times with our families and friends.
Questions You Have About the Event (4).

Why are some people not interested in different cultures?

How come people who are interested in different culture go to these event?

Who organizes these events in the local areas like Kingsville and Alice?

What must cultures do to get people to be more understanding and accepting about different

cultures?

What can we do personally to get more people informed?

How can Indian Cultures spread to America?