Holi Cow!

In Cork, I did not join any societies (known as "clubs" in the US). I had huge ambitions to but, after attending some Photography Society meetings and letting that fizzle out, I focused more on traveling, studying, and being social. 

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to join at least three societies at UCD. What better way to meet people, get to participate in fun activities, and have a social life, right? Not to mention my brother told me I had to join the Indian Society. He said that they had a whole bunch of members, a lot of good food, and put on some of the best events on campus.

During the societies fair at UCD I proudly marched up to Indian Society's table, paid my two euro membership fee, and wrote my name down on the list. They all sort of stared at me, fine with me joining, but wondering if I knew anything more about the club or culture than the chicken tikka masala that I've had for dinner. I said, "My brother was a member and loved it!" to which they responded by asking his name. None of them had heard of him you can be sure. And I was like, "I'm happy to be here!"

Indian Society has not put on many events, actually just one to be more precise, but after meeting a good friend here that is actually from India, and learning more about the event I knew that I had to go. And I even brought two of my friends!

Holi is known as the "Festival of Colors" or the "Festival of Love". It is a Hindu festival that is becoming more and more popular outside of Asia because people love throwing colorful powder on one another!

 

I bought my ticket, my Irish roommate Deirdre bought hers, and another friend of mine, Rachel, tagged along too! 

The promise of the society, with a ticket, was a t-shirt to wear during the event and keep after, along with pizza and a drink. When we arrived we collected these things and ate and changed our clothes until they herded us to a sports field where we would pelt the color on one another.
  
When we were outside you could hear music blaring and everyone looked adorable and excited about the fun that was soon to come. They announced numbers and we collected our pouches of colorful paint-powder. Then, as the music grew more exciting and the emcee counted down, we dipped our hands into the pouch and, BAM!, pelted the person who was closest to us.  

This was very fun as we playfully flicked powder on our friends and doused random strangers in color. However some more aggressive attendees would come up and sandwich their hands around your head to really rub that powder into your scalp, ear, or in my case eye (where I had in contacts). Although I couldn't see very well once the powder turned my eyes from white to speckled, I continued to run around in a frenzy coloring everyone that I could!

And we looked beautiful, felt dry (the powder was dehydrating), and excited about the event and the culture we were celebrating!

 The shower after was more like two as I re-shampooed and conditioned my way back to my normal hair color. My skin and hair were both very dry for the next week, but despite this the experience was an awesome thing to be a part of!

 

Even though this is, from what I can tell, the only Indian Society event I will probably go to, it was worth it! I did something new plus... I got a new t-shirt!

Until next time,

The Opinionated Lassie