Indian Holi & Japanese Sakura

Holi is the Festival of Colors, an Indian (as in India) festival that has become an annual spring ritual in Athens where we have a pretty big Indian community. It came with a fashion show, dances, music, food, and disco. Let me tell ya, these Indian guys (yes, the boys) dance like crazy. You think they are possessed by the devil. Being accustomed to rather shy German boys who often avoid the dance floor this was an epithany!

Holi is celebrated to honor an event that is tied to Hinduism. The version about why Holi is celebrated that I can offer you is a concise regurgitation of a more sophisticated explanation I got from a close friend, an Indian.

So here goes: There was a king who prayed incessantly to not be killed by anything. Because he prayed so long without break, the god Brahma thought he grants him his wish. The king was happy and got a little bit out of control over the joy to be (almost) invincible. So he grew arrogant and attacked everyone around him and demanded from the people that they worship him and not the gods anymore. But the king's son liked to continue worshipping gods. Consequently the father tried to kill his son by poisoning him, by rushing elephants to trample him, and by locking him into a room with hungry snakes. But nothing worked. So he demanded from his son to sit in the lap of the king's sister, Holika, who was sitting in a fire. She wore a shawl that gave her the power to protect her from the flames. But when the son sat in his aunt's lap, the shawl flew over to him, burning Holika and saving him. After that the god that the son worshipped came at dusk to kill his father and everthing was well. So in honor of burning Holika, the Indian celebrate Holi. (Holi explanation in Wikipedia)

The other festival we attended was another event that celebrates spring: Sakura. The word means cherry blossom in Japanese. The timing was perfect because the Japanese cherry trees that we have in Athens along the Hocking river were in full bloom and looked just beautiful, both during day and night, when they were especially lighted. The Japanese festival offered in addition to socializing, dancing, a sword fighting performance, a lunch box, singing, fitness exercises, and music.

Here are the pictures!

PS: After clicking on the link above you will find tiny symbols to navigate the slide show in the bottom right hand corner.