Cross Culture Ministry in India: Holi or Holy Week?

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

May 1, 2002

The Indian calendar says that today, 28 March, is Holi. As a Christian, I am remembering Maundy Thursday. I can't help but note the stark contrasts between these two holidays.

One of the few Hindu festivals I knew of before coming to India was the festival of Holi. [Pronounced HO-lee] India can be a colourful country, and no more so than at the festival of Holi. I'd seen pictures of brightly coloured people in the streets of northern India throwing powders and coloured liquids on each other until every inch of their hair, skin and clothing was dyed some odd combination of pigments. Technically they say that there isn't any puja (or worship) connected with the festival. However, statues of Krishna and Radha are usually smeared with colour as well. The reason is that on the festival of Holi, Krishna is supposed to have played these games with his friends.

Thankfully, I live in the southern part of India where Holi isn't quite as popular. Honestly, there is no telling what is in those pigments! And supposedly you can't get away from it if a "celebration of colour" is taking place around you. Foreigners aren't spared. Apparently no one is! (I was told the story of a cameraman begging and pleading that his telephoto lense be spared the brightly coloured liquid. . . . It wasn't.) You'd have to wear old clothing on this day if you didn't want new ones spoiled. [It's a good thing that (as with most hindu festivals) new sets of clothing are often given on this day, because the old ones get wrecked!]

On the street today, I only saw one man with the lower half of his left arm pink. (Pink is the most popular Holi colour. In the newspaper, a girl said that "Violet makes people look ugly, but pink makes them look pretty.") I don't know if that half coloured arm was "Holi" related or not. I assumed that it was though. Of course it could have been a blood stain too. . . . But that thought got me thinking of the first of several contrasts.

You see, instead of a gathering of Krishna's boisterous friends. I am celebrating a more somber gathering of Jesus' friends in the upper room. There the commotion wasn't horseplay, but Jesus' announcement that one of them would betray him! Later, instead of being coloured with pigments, Jesus was stained with sweat "like drops of blood," then more blood from the crown of thorns, the lashing, the nails and the spear. What a beautiful pinkish red *that* is for us sinners! His stains take all of ours away! He takes our old clothes and gives us a robe of righteousness. Those are the best new set of garments we could ask for.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

The copyright of the article Cross Culture Ministry in India: Holi or Holy Week? in Lutheranism is owned by John L. Hoh, Jr.. Permission to republish Cross Culture Ministry in India: Holi or Holy Week? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.