Chatham's Indian Community Celebrates Holi With Bright Colors

CHATHAM TOWNSHIP, NJ — The colors are bright like the spring flowers, and those who observe Holi celebrated all of that, and love, as winter turned into spring in the Chathams.

A gathering of about 165 people on Sunday at the baseball field near the Chatham municipal building was the first public Holi celebration here since 2019, because of COVID-19 restrictions the last two years.

A representative of the Indian community in Chatham said the group obtained permission from the mayor's office for a 2022 celebration. Holi is the popular Hindu spring festival observed on the day after the full moon of the Hindu lunar month of Phagun, which on other calendars falls between mid-February and mid-March.

"It's a time of great cheer and fun as people smear bright colors on each other as they mark the advent of spring and end of winter," a statement from the group explained.

People celebrated starting at noon on Sunday by sharing a feast, dancing to Bollywood hits and splashing colors. "This is the celebration of love, happiness and friendship and allows the kids to get the glimpse of Indian culture," the group' s news statement explained.

The first local celebration was in 2019. Read the Patch story about it here.

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