New Delhi, India’s capital, is expecting a hazy yet sunny 26 C day for the annual Holi celebration. In contrast, it’s -16 C in Vaudreuil-Dorion Saturday, -27 C if you factor in the wind.
The blistering cold however didn’t stop the town’s South Asian community from observing the Hindu holiday.
Dubbed the “festival of colours,” Holi signifies the end of winter and the beginning of the spring equinox. In India, the holiday is celebrated with coloured powder being thrown to anyone from friends and neighbours to perfect strangers on crowded streets.
Watch below: Indian children and widows celebrate Holi
Symbolically however, Holi represents the victory of good over evil, reconciliation between enemies, as well as diversity and inclusion.
Jasmine Sharma, from the Indo-Canadian Organization of Montreal, who is responsible for organizing Holi celebrations at the Vaudreuil-Dorion Sports Complex said its important to pass on to the next generation the values of the holiday, but it’s also equally important for the town at large to understand it.
“In India, people of all different backgrounds will all come out on Holi, and everyone is going to throw colours on each other,” Sharma said.
“The meaning behind the festival, the idea that we can live together, that we can accept each other’s difference, is so pertinent for where we are today.”
The Holi festivities began at 1 p.m. Saturday with most activities taking place indoors, except for the colour throwing.
Sharma warned that given the cold weather, the colour-throwing activity, slated to begin at 4:00 p.m. would not last for very long.
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