Celebrating Holi 2018

Holi is a festival of colour that marks the arrival of spring in India. Although originally it is a Hindu festival, it is perhaps one of the most important festivals in India, where colours and love are celebrated by everyone regardless of their religion, cast, age, beliefs. There are various legends and stories attached to the origin of this wonderfully vibrant festival, but as a child, having the freedom to throw colour on anyone and everyone without being told off, was enough for me to absolutely love this festival.

From my own childhood, there are many aspects of Indian life I  remember fondly, and Holi is definitely one of the earliest and one of the best!

Having had such a great connection with this festival, what better way of celebrating it than with my class at Ringwood Waldorf School. We first celebrated Holi as a class festival in 2016. Once we were spotted by the other children at the school,  I had plenty of requests to celebrate Holi as a school festival. So last year in 2017, Holi festival was celebrated and enjoyed by everyone at the school including parents, as well as the children and the staff.

There was a huge amount of disappointment amongst all the pupils when this year on 2nd of March ( the official day for Holi) our school had to be closed due to snow and icy conditions on the road. We had to postpone the celebration until the last day of term. I thought this would be the best day to celebrate Holi and also to mark the beginning of our spring/Easter break. We decided to celebrate whatever the weather!

Younger classes  (ages 6 to 8) explored powdered colour by making Rangoli patterns on the floor of their classrooms. These powdered colours were lovingly handmade by my Class 7.

The older classes, from Class 4 up (age 9 and up) played (throwing) Holi on the basketball court. My class and I asked all the children to donate £1 each to support this event and the money we raised is going to go to a children’s charity called Manzil in Delhi, India.

I am so lucky to be working at Ringwood Waldorf School where the children, staff, parents and the whole community are so open, welcoming, and interested in cultures and traditions from all over the world.