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I always dream that I want to join the Holi Festival in India, just once. The first year that I moved to France (in 2015), I found a ‘Color Run’ campaign which I presumed inspired by the Holi Festival. Since I’ve never been in India, nor having a plan (yet), I asked some friends to join me and one of them said yes with no hesitation. (Yes! 😁)
Getting back to the Holi Festival, I’ve learnt that the concept of the festival derived from legends (there are so many by the way) and one that I’ve heard was about Vishnu’s victory over a demoness named Holika. From this point, I think you can guess the origin of the festival’s name. Holi festival is held during spring where the weather changes from cold to hot; the period where people get ill easily. So, apart from throwing colors at each other for fun, this tradition brings as well a good condition to your health. How? The colorful power used in the event is the fruit from the nature, the multicolored spice such as curcuma, beetroot, radish, etc. These plants are very rich in nutrients that reinforce the immune system, is it brilliant?!
For the Color Run that I participated, it was organized by a unit called ‘Color Me Rad’ (which comes from ‘Radical’, I guess). The concept of the event? The participants run along the natural and human made tracks for five kilometers. This length might seem to be nothing for those who already joined a half marathon or such things, but for me who only ran a few kilometers per day had to do a little practice and prepare well myself before.
Then the day that I’ve waited for has come in one spring. My friend and I, two amateur runners headed to the Lille Métropole Stadium, at almost noon (we’ve picked the 12:30 pm. round). The stadium was full with a pack of people at different ages, the youths, the 50+, and even the toddlers! Seeing those little kids joining the event, I told myself that it would be a shame if I couldn’t manage this 5-kilometer track. 😅 We walk passed participants who already finished the run; they seemed to be badly damaged. Lol, just kidding, they just looked like humans that disguised as dirty unicorn. 😂 Seeing them made me so enthusiastic. Couldn’t wait to be attacked by those color powders! We then walked hurriedly to starting point.
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Participants were gathering at the stadium.
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Here's how the former-round participants look like.
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Seems like they couldn't wait anymore. 😆
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Right after the sound of buzzer was over, everyone on the running track started to… walk calmly, lol, and some jogged. Around a kilometer from the starting point, green, pink, blue, yellow, all the color dust was respectively thrown, pour, spread, sprinkle over the players. Some of us were even commanded to roll ourselves on the ground. Too bad that the colors used in the event were not from spices like the ones in India, but at least they were made of cornstarch mixed with food colorings which are safe for human. The experience that makes this activity inferior than the Holi Festival would be the lack of nice smell and healthy benefit (but you will get the latter from running instead.)
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Walking out elegantly from the starting point
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Some jogged energetically
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Green was the first stop.
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The crews were waiting to attack us with the green dust.
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What a family activity 😆
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At the Pink Checkpoint
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Hello Blue. Here I come!
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Roll yourself on the ground, 3...2...1. Go!
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The last stop, Yellow
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After we had passed the four colors, the four checkpoints, we arrived at the goal point and behind, there’s a big stage. Forgot to tell you that there’s no prize for the winner, but the prize for everyone, fun! Techno music played sonorously around the area, the young participants were jumping and dancing along the music, while some of the 50+ groups started to move away from the area, holding some toddlers in their arms. The middle-agers like my friend and I had danced for a while before deciding to raise the ‘white flag’ heading back home to shower and find something to eat.
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Aftermath looks
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Me, before and after the run
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Everyone was enjoying the music played by the DJ.
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This little guy knew how to entertain himself.
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For anyone who is interested, the Color Run and Color Me Rad held in many big cities in different countries. I noticed that they already started some few in Thailand. For this activity, I had paid 26 euros (student price) instead of 28 euros, while small kids would pay only 2 euros. The starter kit that I got from the event contained: one white T-shirt to wear on the event day, a bag of colored powder (of your choice), a pair of sunglasses to protect our eyes from the color dust, a tattoo sticker ‘RAD’ and a number tag of the participant which you can keep as a souvenir as well. Personally, I found that the price was quite high, but since I had no plan to go to India yet, I then counted this as a ‘pre-experience’. One day when I really joined the Holi’s, I would never forget to write about it. ;)
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| Participants heading home with head-to-toe colorful looks |
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