Holi - Festival Of Colors

 

Last year we went to a local fund raisings troops Color Fest and that was fun, but it was also quite small. This year we decided to check out Holi, or The Festival Of Colors at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.

Holi is a festival celebrated in India that announces the arrival of spring, the passing of winter. It is a religious event, but you don’t have to be religious to enjoy it.

Apparently, it is really popular. Traffic was backed up for miles! All through Spanish Fork, and then several miles back down the freeway! We kept driving until we thought we were close enough to start looking for a parking spot, parked and started to hoof it. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people heading in and out. It was like Mecca, the throngs of people heading in to be bathed in color. Well we parked further than we thought and did a good 2 mile hike up to the temple. Just google mapped it, 1.9 miles to be exact. Well I guess I got a hike in after all!

I was really concerned for my camera, so it was in a backpack for most of today's adventure. (Very smart Idea after seeing the condition of tons of festival goers cameras wow!) I had my phone in a ziplock baggy, so a lot of these are not going to be the best quality photos. You know, I went back and forth deciding if I wanted to even post these images because the bag really diminished the quality of the photos, but I think, even though they aren’t great, they help provide the full experience of the event so ultimately I decided to share them. I promise there are some really amazing shots I caught with my DSLR in here too. :)

We’re almost there. Looks like they just had a throwing. Look at all the people.

After finally arriving and paying the $3.00 fee we went to look for chalk.

Lots of people, and everybody is throwing chalk at each other. The cleaner you are, the more of a target you are.

This really is a gorgeous building.

Our friends were smart enough to bring bandanas so we didn’t have to breath/eat the chalk.

Deadmau5

Colorful people.

Ug. That plastic bag really destroyed these shots. Darn.

Then I heard the 4 minute warning to the start of a throwing. I had to get pictures of this, I just had to! So I told the group I was going to find somewhere with a better view.

I am quite please with this location. I can see the crowd, and the temple, which is really a beautiful building. I am also far enough away from all the other people I was more comfortable having my camera out.

Look at that colorful crowd!

And it starts.

I think this is my favorite shot of the day.

And then it all starts to blend…

Until its one big grey cloud.

Whoops, I think I’m downwind.

Like a dust storm. Okay, time to put my camera away.

Listening to some of the things the emcee was saying over the loud speaker, yes some of it was religious, speaking of Krishna etc. however the overall message I was picking up is we are all humans. We are all the same, lets just live together on this planet peacefully. I like that.

So we had a lot of fun, but the youngsters were getting restless and is was time we started heading back.

More images from my phone in a ziplock bag. I was still covered in chalk and didn’t want to risk getting it on my camera or my phone.

These ladies wore prom dresses!

Guess which way people are going in vs. which way going out is. One of the things that struck me as interesting that I noticed from the freeway to here is almost everybody wears white shirt to this fun event. So, carload after carload of people wearing white.

Cool old barn.

Spanish Fork River. So 2 miles ish hike back, down the road, but there were some pretties to be seen. Not going to get a hike in this weekend anyway, so I’ll take it! Then we started the long drive back home.

Hand print!

Ending with a cropped version of my favorite shot.

This was definitely a fun adventure. The crowd was a bit much, the hike was long, and the traffic sucked, but it was all worth it. I recommend everybody try it at least once.