Hoping to take photos, I ventured out with "J" in our neighborhood around 6 pm. We were told it was probably too late by then and that most had already finished. I figured I'd look around anyway. I took "J" with me and wandered around our neighborhood. After a while of seeing nothing, I finally did find a group of celebrating youth who agreed to let me take some photos....
I was puzzled by the specks in the above pics...I'm guessing it was the mist of the colored water these folks had been throwing around.
"J" protests that he wants to keep his clothes clean. Can't say I blame him....I also wanted to stay spot-free and just watch the mayhem from the sidelines.
Holi is a Hindu holiday. Most schools and businesses closed today. You can read more about Holi here. After reading it, I still don't fully understand a lot of what it's supposed to commemorate....but I doubt most celebrants do. One of the youths explained to me that Holi was all about celebrating the arrival of spring. That's how local newspapers reported it, too. It wasn't clear just how much of the religious aspects people are mindful of. People appeared to be into Holi mostly for the pure, raucous fun and not really dwelling on the spiritual origins and symbolism behind it. Much like Halloween in the USA, it seems.
