H-SC International Club Hosts Holi

On Saturday, April 16th, the International Club hosted Holi, the Indian Celebration of Color, at Crawley Forum. The event began outside of Crawley Forum, where members of the club encouraged the audience to participate in the festival of Holi by coloring the white canvas available. Several people helped color the canvas with the color powder, finger paint, and color water balloons made available by the club. We then moved the audience inside the building where an explanation of the holiday was given and dinner was served. The dinner was catered by Milan Indian Cuisine, an Indian restaurant in Lynchburg. The club also displayed several videos about the festival on the projector while everyone enjoyed the food. The event was a great success as it attracted over 70 people including students, faculty, staff, and community members. 
 
Holi is a Hindu spring festival generally celebrated in India and Nepal. The festival is also called the festival of colors or the festival of sharing love. Holi is religiously distinguished as the celebration of good over evil. Over several centuries, the meaning of the holiday has changed depending on location. For some, Holi holds significant meanings such as the day to rid oneself of past errors, to end conflicts, or to forgive and forget. For others, it symbolizes a new year or marks new beginnings. In recent years the festival has travelled to other parts of the world like Europe, North America, and South America as a celebration of love, frolic, and colors. Many of the videos shown at our event were of Holi festivals celebrated around the world. It is an incredible event that everyone should try and experience at least once in their lives. 

International Club hosted this event because our mission is to expand the college's view to include religious practices and cultures from around the world. To fulfill this goal we have held several diverse events like a Hispanic Heritage celebration and an International Food and Film Festival in the fall of 2015. This semester we have held a Chinese New Year celebration, and our celebration of Holi wraps up the year for International Club. We want to thank Dean Croom and the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Affairs for their contribution and support this year. We also want to thank the French Club, Unity Alliance, and the German Club for their help this year.  

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