The Holi festival is more than just a gimmick
Falling on Monday 13 March this year, the festivities will mark the arrival of spring and celebrate fertility, harvest and new life.
In India streets fill with laughter and shrieking as people of all ages and backgrounds armed with bags of gulal (coloured powder) ‘play Holi’ by throwing said powder on each other as an enactment of playful Lord Krishna playing pranks on local children.
Despite my brown face and brown name I didn’t know much about Holi myself until I celebrated with friends and family in India a few years ago.
In Jaipur there were several days of festivities including the traditional Holika bonfire celebration on the first day, an elephant festival plus the usual colour-throwing fun in the streets on the second day.
In my family village in the northern state of Uttarakhand we feasted on specialities like guija, fruit and nut-filled samosas, and dahi vada, a dish of fried lentil balls in yoghurt, and relatives played traditional Kumaoni Holi songs.
Across the western world, there has been a rise in Holi-inspired events since Holi Festival of Colours kicked off in Berlin in 2012.
This festival is happening in London on 29 July this year – rather out of step with when the festival actually is.
Holi Land Festival of Colours at Great Suffolk Street Warehouse in London actually coincides with Holi on 11 March and has some Indian food on offer at the event.
These events commonly take on a rave element complete with neon face paints, glow sticks and a jarring EDM soundtrack. Give me face paints and glow sticks anytime but no thank you EDM.
However it is more than just the music that jars with me. These events make me question whether such activities are an appropriation of a cultural celebration.
Bold and beautiful Indian culture is often seen as desirable. Being exotic is cool, and it sells.
Take Coldplay and Beyoncé’s video for their 2016 collaboration, Hymn For The Weekend. Chris Martin makes me cringe at the best of times but watching him sway through packed Indian streets while merry children throw coloured powder at him makes me want to crawl out of my skin.
Don’t even get me started on Beyoncé writhing around as a Bollywood-themed goddess. All in scenes that meet the stereotypical common all-singing all-dancing portrayal of India.
I think it is safe to say that they well and truly appropriated Holi.
In a multi-cultural society like Britain’s, where we started to love Afro-Caribbean music through the Nottingham sound systems of the 50s and developed a love for more than just korma on Manchester’s curry mile, the line of what is appropriation is well and truly blurred as other cultures become part of our day-to-day life.
Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/03/10/what-is-holi-festival-6489708/#mv-b
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