The Asian Pacific American Club (APAC) and South Asian Student Alliance (SASA) hosted a Holi celebration on Cypress field on Wednesday, March 22 at 3 p.m. Students threw vibrant powders called gulal to celebrate the upcoming spring season.

Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors, is a religious, Hindu holiday. Many South Asian communities come together on the full-moon day of the Hindu month of Phalguna and celebrate with gulal. The symbolism of Holi includes purification, new life and the beauty of color.

SASA co-president and senior Nemeira Lal said she appreciates how the Holi celebration allowed her to reconnect with her roots.

“I have been playing Holi since forever in India. When I moved here, there was no one to play Holi with,” Lal said. “It’s really fun to have a community in school that celebrates the same culture as you and also enjoys the same things as you.”

English teacher Devina Sakaria said that this year was her first Holi celebration, despite her religious ties.

Although my dad is Hindu, we never grew up actually celebrating Holi,” Sakaria said. “This was really exciting for me. It was so much fun, and I want to do it every year now.”

APAC co-president and senior Krisha Grigaliunas said this year’s Holi celebration was coordinated differently from last year’s.

“APAC was responsible for this [celebration] last year. One of the things [we’re] working on a lot this year in APAC is improving diversity. I don’t think there is any way better to do that than to involve the group that should be involved,” Grigaliunas said. “We’ve been working a lot more on collaborating with SASA this year to make the South Asian student body feel more included and more comfortable at APAC.”

APAC steering member and senior Shaanti Raychaudhuri said that she enjoyed some aspects of this year’s celebration more than last year.

“I really liked how we were out on Cypress field. There’s a lot more space, and people can see us throwing powder at each other and be more likely to join,” Raychaudhuri said.

Raychaudhuri said that she hopes for the school to understand that anyone can take part in the Holi celebration in the future.

“I don’t really know the history around Holi, but like a lot of other holidays, you don’t have to know the origins to really enjoy it and celebrate it. [Holi] is something people do to get together and celebrate spring,” Raychaudhuri said.

Grigaliunas said she hopes to convey to the school community that anyone can take part in celebrating her culture.

“I think there are a lot of misconceptions about what South Asian culture is. I feel like a lot of people find it dirty or too foreign, but I know that everyone who watched enjoyed watching,” Grigaliunas said. “The take away would be that you can share and enjoy our culture even if you’re not a part of it.”