Holi Festival turns Docklands into a sea of colour

By Aditi Rawal

Holi, popularly known as the “Festival of Colour”, is a traditional Hindu festival that originated in India, but is now celebrated all over the world. It is a celebration of fertility, colour and love, as well as the triumph of good over evil.

Holi has three main inspirations for its celebrations, which include spring’s arrival, the story of eternal divine Radha and Krishna, and the legend of Holika and Prahalad. These indicate positive change and renewal, love and compassion, and the triumph of good over evil to Holi festivities.

On March 19, a Holi celebrations event was hosted by the Docklands Neighbourhood House at Ron Barassi Senior Park for local residents. The entire Docklands community was visibly very excited attending this gala event. This was one of the very first events of its own kind for residents of Docklands after the pandemic, which gave all who attended a chance to celebrate this festival of joy and happiness together in person.

The event was very well planned and organised with a warm welcome at the venue with a goodie bag and organic colours for all. The event was absolutely aligned to the theme of Holi which is also sometimes called “Phagwa” and included Bollywood dances, Bhangra dance performance, a DJ, live singing performances, and other activities. It was a wonderful event, right from the demeanour of the locals celebrating it in their own style to the way in which the festival related activities were carried out.

It was a great opportunity for the children to play with colours and water using water guns, chasing each other and having loads of fun and enjoying shaking their feet to the popular music. It was an amazing experience seeing the powder that revellers threw at each other, leaving festival goers coated in colour by the end of the day. The food trucks provided a variety of sumptuous food and drinks adding to the festive atmosphere.

A big thanks to Jason Butcher, community development officer of the Docklands Neighbourhood House and his team of volunteers, who worked tirelessly to make this event a great success.

This year’s Holi celebration was very special for the Indian and Docklands community who got a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and come together. The residents experienced a festival of joy, colours, merriment, celebration, enthusiasm, and happiness like never before. This event truly reflected that Holi might be an Indian festival, but the enthusiasm of this vibrant Indian festival is equally popular globally.

Now, the entire Docklands community is already looking forward to the Diwali celebration in October. •

Aditi Rawal is a Docklands resident and Docklands Representative Group member