"singin Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!..."

Last Saturday I went with a group of people to The Hare Krishna Holi Festival Of Colors. The Hindu Temple looked like the castle on Aladdin. It was pretty amazing... There was sweet hippie music from live bands, and everyone just danced by each other and threw colorful chalk at each other. (Which really smelled pretty bad...it's scented kind of like incense, but lots of different ones mixed together creates quite a smell, especially when you're rinsing it off afterwards.)

I learned a lot about the festival in a couple of my world religion classes, but for those unfamiliar with the festival of colors, here is a brief summary from wikipedia. ha ha.
 "Every year, thousands of Hindus participate in the festival Holi. The festival has many purposes. First and foremost, it celebrates the beginning of the new season, spring. Originally, it was a festival that commemorated good harvests and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colors and saying farewell to winter. It also has a religious purpose, commemorating events present in Hindu mythology. Although it is the least religious holiday, it is probably one of the most exhilarating ones in existence. During this event, participants hold a bonfire, throw colored powder at each other, and celebrate wildly."


A few times during the day they had a countdown and had us all throw our chalk at the same time after we chanted along with them, and all you could see was a cloud of chalk around you...until you started coughing to death and trying to spit if it got in your mouth. Ha ha. All in all I would highly recommend it. Just keep your mouth closed!

I met up with my cousins in the crowd accidently and saw a couple other random people I knew, but my favorite was listening to the songs the band kept playing. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty dumpty had a great fall. All the kings horses and all the kings men started singing- Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!"
 You can sing along with any song if you know those two words.

According to theology, one's original consciousness and goal of life is pure love of God(Krishna)."Hare" is another name of Vishnu meaning "he who removes illusion". The mantra is repeated, either out loud, softly to oneself, or internally within the mind. This sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciousness - namely sensual,mental, and intellectual.

 Bravo, it was sunny and messy and fabulous. :)

To get a better idea of how it all goes, here are a couple sweet videos: