Indian cultural festival will come to Toledo area on April 15 with bright bursts of color

The University of Toledo will experience a burst of color as campus groups host an event in celebration of the Indian festival of Holi.

The event, modeled off the festival that has Hindu roots and features the throwing of colored powder, will be held April 15 from 3-5 p.m. at the field next to the Memorial Field House.

The idea was first raised in the fall of 2013 when staff members at UT’s Center for Religious Understanding wanted to plan “an all-campus event that would help UT students get to know other UT students from other religions and cultures in a fun way,” Jeanine Diller, director for religious understanding at UT, wrote in an email.

“A couple of us had taken part in the Color Run and recognized it as an American version of Holi, a cultural holiday in India with religious roots in Hinduism that celebrates the start of spring by throwing colors at passersby,” Diller said.

According to Diller, the event is meant to not only be fun for participants, but will also serve as a dialogue on religion and culture.

“Given its connection with religion and thus our mission, we tossed around the idea of combining some version of Holi on campus with students dialoguing about religion and culture, and realized the colors themselves would do a great job of representing diversity,” Diller said. “We found out several other campuses had been celebrating Holi too, talked with UT’s Indian Students Cultural Organization, who also wanted to bring this event to UT, and the idea was born.”

Jeff Witt, program director for the Office of Equity, Diversity and Community Engagement at UT, said this event will benefit students by giving different perspectives.

“This event is an important one for the Office of Equity and Diversity to support because it builds awareness for one of the key elements of human diversity — faith and religion,” Witt said.

Diller said the event was successful from the start.

“Last year was our first time running this event,” Diller said. “We expected 200 and over 400 people came. It was also incredibly fun and joyous. I think this year will be even bigger — I’ve had people asking me when it is, saying they’re planning to come with their friends. We are planning for 500.”

Diller said the event will have a lot going on — and will be very colorful.

“Attendees are invited to go to the booths that UT’s religious and cultural organizations have set up in a ring around what we call the ‘Color Zone’ to ask a question about the students’ tradition, story or people,” Diller said. “After a brief reply, the staffer gives the attendee powdered color to throw.”

According to Diller, attendees can take their powdered colors to any booth as many times as they want and throw them, or they can wait for the “color blasts” that happen every 15 minutes when everyone is called to throw their color all at once. Prizes will also be given out to student organizations and attendees at 4:30 p.m.

Witt said his group will also take part in one of the activities.

“We are supporting the event by helping out the information scavenger hunt,” Witt said. “Each participant will be given a scavenger hunt card as they enter the event. They will take the card to the tables in the venue where they will meet individuals from several faith and religious-based student organizations. Participants will collect information from them, such as traditions, people and beliefs from their faith.”

Diller also said with the number of attendees mixing at the event, the UT diversity staff thinks this is one of the best diversity events the campus has to offer. Diller mentioned that she heard many of the international students felt more “at home and welcome at UT” because of the event.

“And there were some meaningful exchanges going on at the tables; one person told me they talked for over half an hour with someone who had a different perspective on religion,” Diller said. “This was all topped off by the tenor of joy at the event, which is one of the biggest effects — just to have a wonderful time enjoying the music and pelting your friends with color.”

For more information, visit “Holi Toledo 2015!” on Facebook.

This story was originally published online by the Toledo Free Press on April 6, 2015.