Annual Hindu Holi celebration highlights love, friendship
“Happy Holi!”
That’s how guests and walk-in passersby greeted one another Sunday under a gazebo at American Canyon’s Shenandoah Park before smearing and sprinkling one another with brightly colored, non-toxic powders.
About 60-plus people, taking advantage of a break from the rain, came to celebrate American Canyon’s 15th annual public Holi festival, before being covered head to toe with yellow, blue, orange, green, purple and red colors. The more, the better.
Arvind and Jyoti Nischal, longtime owners of The UPS Store in American Canyon, hosted American Canyon’s Festival of Colors, which celebrates the victory of good over evil.
Holi celebrates happiness and the arrival of spring, Arvindt Nischal said. It is a time to put differences aside. “We love each other!” said Arvindt, who, with his wife, organizes the event every year.
The official Holi holiday was celebrated worldwide early March. American Canyon’s event at Shenandoah Park was scheduled a month later in order to avoid March’s usual rainy days, Jyoti Nischal said. Sunday’s weather stayed dry for most of the event.
City Councilman Brandon Cruz, who attended Holi for the first time, came prepared for the occasion, tucking his cell phone into one of his socks. Vice Mayor Mark Joseph, who’s attended the celebration in the past, was also ready. He wore old jeans.
“We’re all having a good time,” said Joseph after being doused in green, blue, yellow and purple powder.
The American Canyon’s Arts Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was one of Holi’s sponsors. It’s an artsy community event, said Joseph, a longtime American Canyon Arts Foundation board member. It’s also “a significant cultural program,” he added.
Holi’s public celebration in American Canyon has gained popularity over the years. A few dozen residents attended American Canyon’s first public Holi festival at Gadwall Park in 2010.
The Nischals were ready to welcome 200 or so people but some may have given up this year because of last week’s rains, Arvindt Nischal said. Yet he was determined to host Holi, noting that a few years back the event took place in the rain. It was a mess, he recalled.
Sunday’s festivities included pizza, courtesy of RoundTable Pizza, samosas and pakora, deep-fried vegetables. Arvind orders the organic powders from a Chicago-based company.
Arvindt and Jyoti Nischal brought samosas to City Hall on March 4 to celebrate a city proclamation acknowledging Holi.
The American Canyon Mayor Pierre Washington and the City Council in March proclaimed March 4 as Holi Day in American Canyon to “recognize its cultural, spiritual, and community significance.”
The celebration of Holi “promotes unity, inclusiveness, and cultural exchange, fostering greater understanding and appreciation among individuals of different backgrounds,” the proclamation read.
Sunday’s event was also a fundraiser for Helping Hands Indo American, a charity organization Arvindt Nischal formed a decade ago to raise money for the needy.
