THUNDER BAY - Worries and fears were cast up in colourful clouds to drift out over Lake Superior as the people of Thunder Bay once again participated in an ancient Indian tradition to bring happiness and joy to each other’s lives.
The third annual Festival of Colours was held on Sunday at Prince Arthur’s Landing, which saw thousands of people of all ages awash in colour.
“When we throw the colours it means we throw our worries to the wind and make our lives more joyful and enjoyable,” said festival organizer, Prashant Jani.
The festival, also known as Holi, traces its roots to ancient India as a way of celebrating the arrival of spring and lends people forgiveness, gratitude, and joy.
“The Festival of Colours is thousands of years old tradition in India,” Jani said. “The Festival of Colours is traditionally celebrated in the springtime in India, but springtime is very cold here in Canada so we celebrate it in the fall.”
While the act of throwing the coloured powder into the air is meant to represent all your worries being cast away, the colours themselves are about bringing people closer together.
“The colours represent the different colours of life,” Jani said. “It doesn’t matter what class, culture, or creed that we come from, we are all universally one entity. We love each other and serve each other and make our lives more loving and enjoyable. That is what the colour means.”
When it first started three years ago, Jani said there were only 40 people participating, but in its second year that number grew to more than 5,000.
On Sunday, the festival grounds were once again packed with people participating in the colour throws, as well as enjoying traditional Indian music, food, and dance demonstrations.
Makayla Metz and Ava and Emma Mueller were at their very first Festival of Colours on Sunday after stories of what happened, which they had to see it for themselves.
“We’ve ever been here before and we thought it would be a nice experience,” Ava said.
“I only heard stories, so I wanted to see what it was all about,” Makayla added. “It was really fun. I never expected it to be like that. It was crazy here.”
And being in the middle of a huge crowd when all the colours are thrown up into the air is something they will definitely want to experience again.
“It was overwhelming,” Ava said. “You couldn’t see anything when the colours went up.”
“We will definitely be back next year,” Emma added.
