I marked the sacred day by spending a few hours shooting snapshots of people ‘parading’ on 5th Avenue. I guess you could call it my role in their religious experience.
Anyway, I had heard about another celebration going on at the same time. Hey, this is New York, right? We got Thai food at 4AM, subways runing 24/7 and 114 shows runing at the same time on Broadway. I made up that one about Broadway shows, but having more than one religious festival on the same day is pretty well par for the New York course. So after the Easter parade I wandered across town to where a bunch of other folks were celebrating Holi. Holi, for those of you who are wondering, is the Hindu “Festival of Color.” OK, I never knew much about it either before last Sunday. What I learned very quickly is that the Holi celebration seems to consist of lots of happy people dancing and covering each other with colored powder. They don’t do that at the Easter Parade, so it is easy to tell which is which. Most of the time, anyway.
According to one web site “One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, sex, status, and caste. Holi lowers the strictness of social norms. No one expects the decorum of normal life; as a result, the atmosphere is filled with excitement and joy” And lots – really lots! – of colored powder. They rub the stuff on each other’s faces and clothing, fling handfuls into the air and amid much singing and dancing, everyone immerges looking like psychedelic flashback.
There’s probably a connection between Easter and Holi. I mean, Christians celebrate Easter by coloring eggs. Hindus, coming from a poorer culture probably didn’t want to waste the eggs, so they just color each other. Which seems like lots more fun than walking around 5th Avenue waiting for someone to take your photo.
And Finally: There is this guy.
I think he's his own favorite festival:
.........and then there's www.mauryenglander.com
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