Hey guys! Earlier this month saw the Hindu celebrations of Holi – a festival of colour, love and new beginnings. I’m going to tell you a bit about what it was like as a student to celebrate Holi down at the Cornwall campus and the events that took place!
To start the celebrations, a variety of Asian cuisine was served in the main Stannary from 12:00, with bright decorations and upbeat traditional music. This included snacks such as spring rolls, samosas and pakoras. Mains included some delicious dahl, paneer and bhajis with rice and naan, and big bowls of kheer for dessert. Everyone sat down to eat together with lots of excited talk about the events to come.
After the feasting has finished at 14:30, it was time to head down to Tremough House for the main event! Before everyone had even reached the grassy lawn, powder paint was being thrown left, right and centre so that all you could see were great big multicolour clouds floating above the lively and laughing crowd. Only when everyone was covered in AT LEAST five different colours did people head a little bit further down to the outdoor amphitheatre for tug-of-war! This was enormous fun, rotating matches between groups and individuals until after 2 hours of running to throw powder paint and cheering along games of tug-of-war, everybody was exhausted and decided to freshen up before the evening activities.
To round off the Holi festivities, an evening afterparty was held down in Falmouth town. Everyone met first at 8pm for drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) at Wetherspoons and then moved to the Grapes pub for a night of dhamal dancing, outrageous singing, and Kala Chashma impressions!
Everybody was so welcoming, and I had the best time! I would highly encourage anyone – religious or not! – to join in and help to celebrate the brilliant wealth of cultures here at the university.
Written by Molly, studying on the Penryn Campus.