Indian residents celebrate Holi Festival in Vientiane

(KPL) Indian Ambassador to Laos Mr Suresh K. Gogel and his wife together with Indian residents and many officials from Lao Government and NGO offices exchanged sweets and hugged each other for Holi Festival in Vientiane last weekend.

In the event, many people played colour and poured water to each other as well as watched dance performance from Lao and Indian artists.

Ambassador Goel said that the festival which marked the onset of the lunar New Year in India and the arrival of new harvest in the market was the celebration of life and unique gift to humanity.

“The onset of spring is the spiritual and sensual metaphor for this gift of nature. The colours, music and fragrances remind us of the richness of nature and pure pleasures it can bring to all of us”, he said.

On this occasion, the Ambassador has taken this chance to bid farewell to his friends in Laos.

“This festival will always imprint in our heart, the friendliness and warmth of Laos as well as we wish you not good byes but friendship forever, the precious gift which we carry with us to India,” he added.

Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as ‘Holika’. The festival finds a detailed description in early religious works such as Jaimini’s Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras.

Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India. In the former, the first day starts after the full moon; and in the latter, after the new moon.

Though the amanta reckoning is more common now, the purnimanta was very much in vogue in the earlier days.

The Legend of Lord Krishna is also associated with play with colours as the Lord started the tradition of play with colours by applying colour on his beloved Radha and other gopis. Gradually, the play gained popularity with the people and became a tradition.

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