Written by Meg Torrente
Video by Eden Hernandez
Photos by Liezl Pineda
“Everybody has a color!”
…said at the opening remarks of the Holi Festival in Manila 2017.
India’s ancient celebration of love, friendship, happiness, and the triumph of good over evil, The Holi Festival should be placed on everyone’s bucket list. And guess what?! You don’t have to fly all the way to India to experience it because Asia Society Philippines has been throwing our very own Holi Festival here in Manila!
Already on its 5th year, Asia Society Philippines has given the Filipino and the Indian community a chance to come together to celebrate and share their colors at the Holi Festival. Marked by the throwing of gulal, colored powder, into the air (and at each other), the Holi Festival has been a popular celebration worldwide. This year’s celebration was held at SM By the Bay and hosted by Sam YG and Joyce Pring! So here’s a recap of all the awesome things you missed out on if you didn’t drop by!
Upon entry, bright happy faces greet you a Happy Holi! by decorating you all over with vibrantly colored gulal! Every festival-goer is given a bunch of freebies such as a bag of gulal in a color of your choice, a henna session, and a rangoli kit! These people definitely know how to throw an event!
The celebration started out with beautiful performances by a professional dance group which was immediately followed by the first countdown! Filipino and Indian DJs were present to blast Hindi music all throughout the event.
It’s practically impossible to leave the venue with no color on you! Handsome Indian men roam around the venue decking everyone out with gulal. Not to mention, there were multiple countdowns throughout the event so you could relive the magically colorful moment that Holi is known for.
When you party hard, you’re bound to get hungry. And you know what else India is known for…their extremely flavorful food!! There were a number of food stalls offering a wide variety of Indian, as well as Indonesian, cuisine.
Our minds went nuts trying to decide on which one to try out first!
Long lines formed by the Henna station, wherein everyone could get a gorgeous mendhi henna from lovely Indian women. Check this one out:
The Rangoli station was also very full as people filled in floral patterns using glue and colored salt! It may look easy at first but I also had a challenging time at it! The end result was pretty satisfying though! I discovered that the color transfers from the salt and onto the glue over time. Patience is definitely key.
The Holi Festival was definitely more vibrant and fun than what we anticipated!
It was an unforgettable experience for us first-timers. It really is an event worth marking on the calendar each year!
With all that said, Happy Holi everybody!
Don’t miss out on next year’s Holi Festival! We hope to see you there!
