Colors, culture, community: Lehigh celebrates Holi

Bursts of pink, blue, green and yellow filled the air as students ran and laughed. 

Hori folk music and Bollywood hits blasted from speakers as friends danced and tossed cups of powder at each other. 

The splashes of color marked the beginning of spring and the triumph of good over evil — or the Hindu celebration of Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors. Hosted by the South Asian Students Association, the India Club and the Asian Cultural Society, Lehigh students celebrated Holi on the front lawn of the Clayton University Center on Saturday.

Simone Karani, ‘26, the president of the South Asian Students Association, said Holi symbolizes mending broken relationships and bringing people together.

“I grew up celebrating with my family and friends, so being able to bring that to college is really special to me,” Karani said.

Before the celebration, Leela and Bhangra — two of Lehigh’s dance teams — performed, throwing bursts of colorful powder into the air as the crowd cheered them on.

Karani is also a member of Leela and joined the dance at the celebration. She said the performance was low stakes and just for fun. 

“I think this is my favorite performance that the dance teams do just because of the color,” she said. “It makes the performances extra amazing to watch.”

She also said celebrating Holi at Lehigh is a really fun time, and the best part is that one can run around and keep bumping into people they know and throw color at them.

Students were given white T-shirts for the event — traditional Holi attire meant to showcase the vibrant colors — which quickly transformed as more powder was thrown. 

Arjun Puri, ‘25G, said the bright colors of yellow, green, blue and pink symbolize positivity, representing light over darkness.

He said Lehigh’s celebration of Indian culture is important to him, and with Lehigh being a small community, he wanted to be a part of the cultural event. 

Puri also said Holi celebrations may differ household to household and at Lehigh. 

“Back home, there’s balloons full of water and colors,” he said. “There are also traditional Indian foods ranging from samosas, juices and infused drinks.” 

Alexa Sharkey, ‘27, said she had never experienced Holi before but decided to attend to support her friends who were dancing.

She said she enjoyed her first time celebrating the festival. 

“I really like that Lehigh has cultural events like this,” Sharkey said.

Muqadess Gul, ‘25G, said she was surprised to see people of so many different ethnicities participating in Holi, as students from diverse backgrounds came together to celebrate and learn.

“The colors and running around with people is unity,” Gul said. “I see a lot of other cultures as well, which makes me very happy and proud that they want to be engaging with our culture.”

She said the celebration offered a space for the South Asian community to comfortably share their culture with one another, as well as with the larger Lehigh community.

“South Asian communities are one of the most predominant communities here at Lehigh,” Gul said. “So, to acknowledge that, and for the (South Asian Students Association) and the India Club, and to have been able to engage with the other communities within Lehigh, it’s really important.”

Although surprised by the different groups at Holi, she said she appreciated the diversity the celebration brought to the community. 

Gul said she also appreciated seeing people of different ethnicities participating in the Leela and Bhangra dances. 

“You would see not everyone here is a part of the culture, but they’re still here to have fun,” she said.