Parramatta’s Prince Alfred Square was a riot of colours, on 12 March 2023, when the local Indian population celebrated the Holi festival, in the Holi Mela, organised by Opera Events.
Holi (literally meaning “burning”) is a popular Hindu festival which is celebrated all over India. There are a number of stories associated with its origin, all celebrating the triumph of good over evil. The most popular legend is the story of Hiranyakashyap, Prahlad and Holika.
According to the legend, Hiranyakashyap, a demon king, believed that he was more powerful than any god and wanted everyone to worship him, including his son Prahlad. Prahlad refused and instead worshipped Vishnu, his father’s enemy. This made Hiranyakashyap so mad that he decided to kill his son. He made a few attempts to kill Prahlad, such as throwing him over a cliff and into a well, trampling him by an elephant, starving and getting him bitten by poisonous snakes etc but each time, Vishnu saved him.
Finally, in desperation, Hiranyakashyap orders his demon sister, Holika, to kill Prahlad. Holika, who had magical powers, could not be destroyed by fire. She sat the boy on her lap in the middle of a bonfire, thinking that he would burn to death while she remained safe. Vishnu, again saved Prahlad, by taking away the wicked Holika’s magical powers. Holika was burned to ashes.
The venue came alive when the Bollywood DJ on duty started churning out dance numbers while the centre stage held dance performances by a Bollywood dancing group to the beats. The people gathered also joined in the spirit and showed off their inherent Bollywood dance moves. The vibe was so electric that it appeared a slice of Mumbai’s Bollywood had landed on the shores of Parramatta.
Everyone was covered, from head to toe, in colourful gulal (coloured powder). The kids were running around with water pistols and having a wonderful time. The organisers had mandated the use of herbal gulal sold in the venue stall and not gulal brought in from outside to prevent any toxic gulal being used, which could endanger the health & safety of people.
The air above was filled with a colourful haze of gulal of assorted colours, with people throwing gulal all over. The colours were indeed flying. It was heartening to see a quite a few white Australians joining in the festivities, with equal enthusiasm.
There were a number of food stalls offering a wide variety of Indian snacks.
Dominic Perrottet, Premier of NSW, was part of the celebration. He mingled with the crowd, took pictures with his admirers and in return got smeared with gulal all over his face. He was enjoying it thoroughly.
At the end of the day, I could not find my wife in the crowd as every woman was completely covered in the gulalcolours.
Got back home with an unrecognisable woman, drenched in gulal, who I think, is my wife. LOL!
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Parramatta’s Prince Alfred Square was a riot of colours, on 12 March 2023, when the local Indian population celebrated the #Holi festival, in the #HoliMela, organised by Opera Events. 🌈 #TheIndianSunhttps://t.co/KrWwg6ZP25
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