Ohio University's Indian Student Association will celebrate the beginning of spring tomorrow with its annual Holi Festival - also known as the Festival of Colors.
Holi is a big festival in India for the beginning of spring
said Sutapa Ghosh, a member of the Indian Student Association. It's when all the colors come out.
In India, Holi is celebrated in March and is a national festival, according to holifestival.org.
The night before the celebration, people light large bonfires for a ceremony called Holika Dahan. Ash left from the bonfire is considered sacred and people apply it on their foreheads to protect them from evil forces, according to the Web site.
During Holi, people play colors by rubbing colors on one another, spraying each other with colored water and throwing balloons filled with colors.
Everybody is wet with color Ghosh said. Everyone wears their worst clothes 'cause they end up throwing them away.
To celebrate Holi at OU, the ISA will hold a performance in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Members of the association will dance and perform classic Indian songs and Bollywood numbers.
There will also be a fashion show featuring colorful Indian clothes, Ghosh said.
After the performance, there will be a dinner in Baker Ballroom with traditional Indian dishes such as yellow daal, chicken curry and gulab jamun for dessert.
Tickets for the dinner are $7 and will be sold on the fourth floor of Baker Center today.
After dinner, there will be a free dance night in the ballroom, Ghosh said. A DJ will play Indian and western music.
Ghosh said the ISA expects 300 people to come to the event.
It's a night we can invite our American friends and anyone in Athens to let them know what Holi means for us she said.
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Culture
Anna Sudar
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