March 22nd and 23rd were Holi, a huge holiday here in India. It's a two day party that celebrates the coming of Spring. The first night there are huge bonfires meant to signify the burning of the demoness Holika, hence the name Holi. Some bonfires will even burn effigy of Holika. If you want to learn more about why Holika is burned or who Holika was, click on the links above. On the second day there is a lot of celebrating and people throw water and colored powder at each other.
We were told the celebrations can get out of hand and that foreigners (especially women) should likely avoid the parties, so we decided to spend the weekend relaxing in the hotel. Our hotel is located on a very busy road and there is a constant stream of traffic and noise. On Holi it was eerily quiet outside. There were only one or two cars on the road the entire day and NO ONE was out on the streets. The hotel was completely empty and there were only one or two employees here working. It was totally different than what we have been used to, but it was so nice to finally relax in some peace and quiet.
Even though we stayed in the hotel we didn't miss out completely on all the Holi celebration. Jeff scared me slightly when he came home from work on Friday looking like this:
He got "colored" by both his co-workers and his driver. On Friday night we went to dinner in the hotel's restaurant and we were asked several times if we knew about the holiday and wanted to celebrate. Everyone just seemed really happy and festive, which made us happy, even if we weren't celebrating per se.
P.S. - We know it's been a while since we have posted, but we are still in India and we are doing alright :) There hasn't been too much going on, so we've gotten a bit lazy with the posts. We have had a few weekend trips lately, so we'll try to post more soon!