Holi is a special festival celebrated mainly in India, Nepal, and also by other countries and Hindus around the world. It symbolizes the end of winter and the beginning of spring and is also called the “Festival of Colors” because people will throw colorful powders all over each other!
Holi was actually last week, but this weekend there was a Holi Festival celebration in Dongguan, another city in the Guangdong Province about 1.5 hours away from Guangzhou by bus.
Since I’d never experienced a Holi festival before (and I’m a fan of any excuse to get colored or messy), I thought it’d be fun to check out!
For 100 RMB we got white shirts, colored powders, Indian food and free drinks. It was a deal. We joined in the fun and quickly became colored from strangers throwing powder everywhere – it was in my hair and mouth and eyes and I was loving it. There were also water balloons being thrown and water gun fights happening all over the place.
After becoming walking rainbows and eating a ton of curry and rice, we joined the dance party and I fulfilled my dream of basically being part of a Bollywood movie.
There were lots of Indian people there and they showed us how Holi is done! (I took some photos from the event website to show more of the party).
The cool thing about living in China is how many cultures will mesh together here – there are lots of diverse communities, especially in bigger cities like Guangzhou and Dongguan. It was so fun to be included in their special Holi celebration and experience just a little of what it’s like.
After Holi we had a girls night out and I got to see a little more of a Dongguan and hang out with my friend Lauren and some of her friends who teach there.
It’s always a good weekend when you can explore a new city, meet new friends, and get color thrown on you. Happy Holi and happy spring!
Rachel Meets China 