I am UIC: Holi squad in the quad

Keaton Fisher

On April 6, the Hindu Student Council (HSC) collaborated with other student organizations from DePaul University to host the Holi festival at UIC. Holi, a Hindu spring festival also known as the festival of colors, started in the 4th century in commemoration of the divine love of Radha for Krishna — significant deities in Hinduism.

Students amassed in the quad, spraying sandalwood powder in the air as they fist-bumped to the music playing the background. The quad was beautified with the different colors of sandalwood powder: green, yellow, pink, orange and blue.

Keaton Fisher, a senior who views the quad as a communal space for students, appreciated the concept of celebrating Holi at UIC.

“I have heard about this event before, and I was interested because I love colors, Fisher said. “HSC creating a version of Holi on campus was very exciting for me.”

The purpose of the occasion Holi includes celebrating the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring and end of winter, as well as a time to play, laugh, forgive and forget in order to repair bad relationships.

“I find celebrating forgiveness to be very essential in this festival because the society needs to learn to forgive and forget in order to make the world better,” Fisher said.

Normally, Holi occurs in February or March, but the HSC celebrated the festival during the first week of April.

“We decided to move this event until after spring break because the weather was too cold during the month in which Holi is typically celebrated; however, the weather is still cold, but surprisingly a lot of students still attended and supported a good cause,” said Niyati Sojitra, the secretary of HSC.

Temitope Eddna Odedoyin is majoring in English and fully concentrating in media and professional writing. Apart from writing, she has have a passion for painting, and enjoys using watercolors, oil paint, acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel. She also has an interest in creative writing and short stories. She believes that art — through writing and painting — is a way of expressing one’s feelings.