If there is one festival that celebrates colour, it’s Holi. It’s a Hindu religious festival lasting up to 16 days, where the main day is celebrated by people throwing powder and literally being covered from head to toe in a rainbow of colour. It certainly brings back many happy memories when I was lucky enough to be in Nepal during Holi.

Holi is celebrated at the end of winter, on the last full moon of the lunar month. It’s come to symbolise communal harmony and love, the losing of one’s social identity for a brief time in a sea of colour.

Traditionally on the day of Holi, people exchange gifts and sweets and gently anoint each other with colour to celebrate the joy of life. Now it’s as if colour is flying at you from every direction.

There are market stalls and shops everywhere selling bags of colour and then it’s game on.  If you dare to venture outside there’s no way you’re going to come home anything other than colourful!

I know this because one of my trips to Nepal just happened to coincide with Holi.

I had been trekking in the Himalayas, and came down from the mountains into Kathmandu just as the festival of Holi was taking place. Men, women and children were in the streets drenching each other with coloured powder and water. Before long powder was landing on my clothes, my face and my hair. The air was painted in every colour of the rainbow that each carry meaning within Indian culture.

I was working in IT at the time and when I arrived back in the UK from Holi I had to go straight to a job interview. But I couldn’t get the colours out of my hair. I sat in that grey office, hair twisted and pinned up, desperately trying to hide the traces of Holi, while knowing they were still there in all their glory. Grey office on the outside, colour still hiding in my hair. Perhaps the universe was trying to tell me something?

Unfortunately I don’t have photos from my Holi experience to share with you. I was having so much fun that I completely forgot to take any photos. Which isn’t such a bad thing I guess. I was fully present and completely immersed in the moment.

The colour may have faded from my hair, but the memories are still in vibrant colour. Next time I’ll remember the camera!

Have you experienced Holi? What are your fondest memories of it? And if you haven’t been, it really is something to behold. Just remember to keep your mouth closed. I know from experience!

Wishing you a wonderful week.

Colourfully Yours,
Karen x

Extract from The Little Book of Colour. You can download the first chapter free here..

Photo by Yogendra Singh, Varun Verma and Debashis RC Biswas.

First published 30th March 2021 | Updated 4th March 2025.