Sparked by the original concept of religious Hindu colour festivals, the Holi Festival of Colours happens all over the world in different times at different locations. The concept has become popular to non-religious or non-Hindu attendees both in and out of Asia. The festival of colours (also known as the festival of love) has also spread out into Africa. We have our own colour fest culture right here in South Africa. There have already been two prominent colour fest’s this year. Earlier this year, the We Are One Colour Fest took place in Emmarentia and was said to have been something epic. I thought I had missed out on this opportunity because I have been procrastinating about going to one due to a lot of things. Like, is the colour powder safe? Am I allergic to the colour powder? Is it environmental friendly? Because I’d see colours being thrown in the air and wonder about little things like plants and animals that fly… what about the birds man? Well, it turns out that the colour powder is super safe, completely non-toxic, water soluble and environmental friendly. After that information was hammered into my head by my colleagues (who convinced me to go to one of these festivals), I took it in my stride to finally attend one. The Holi Festival of Colours in Johannesburg to be specific. Holi Fest already takes place in London, Dublin, Glasgow and a few other places too. This year was Joburg’s turn and Wanderers Stadium in Sandton was filled with various ethnicities from all over the continent of Africa this past Saturday. The DJ line up was crazy; with sets from DJ’s like Fresh and the famous duo Pascal and Pearce. We were also entertained by some beat-boxers like Morgan who was the MC and Jed Nery – who wowed the crowd with his impressive set of pipes. Every hour, a count-down would take place and then the colour powder would be thrown in the air. Lord! It looked beautiful… From air punching with different races to throwing colours at your friends just to see them looking like a rainbow exploded on them – Holi Festival of Colours brought nothing but long lasting memories and an all-around good time. A big shout out to the organisers for bringing this experience to SA: it does more than  filling the air with a spectrum of hues, it also brings people together in the name of love and colour. The hospitality was on par with the warmth you felt from the rest of the crowd. Fitting in is not a problem because we all are one when it comes to the Holi Fest. Words can no longer fully describe what I saw so feast your eyes on the imagery: Facebook

 Words: @Thy_Black_Hippy

Photography: @Ric3hard & @Bonganiii_