As she poured a bright red powder into the palm of her hand, Fiona Persaud, whose face and arms were entirely covered in light shades of pink, green, and yellow, said: “This is how we celebrate it, with lots of color and water.”
The 29-year-old Princeton Avenue resident was one of the thousands of people who descended on Lincoln Park in Jersey City this afternoon for the 21st Annual Phagwah Parade and Holi Hai Day festivities, a colorful Hindu spring harvest tradition that is celebrated by revelers who playfully shower each other with various colors of organic powder.
“The biggest significance of this is that everybody becomes a myriad of colors,” said Dayanand Mangru, an executive with the United Hindu Association, adding that on such a holy day there are no racial distinctions. “There is no brown, black, or white.”
The parade began around 11:30 a.m. at Audubon Park at the intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and Stegman Parkway as ten decorated floats blaring traditional Indian dance music made their way down Kennedy Boulevard to the fountain in Lincoln Park where the festivities continued into the afternoon.
“The focus is to bring all together in unity,” said Gireeraj Beggs, president of The United Hindu Federation of New Jersey which led the organizing efforts for the parade. “As Hindus we believe in the unity of all people.”
Beggs was joined on a makeshift stage by Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Hudson County Freeholder Bill O’Dea, Councilwoman-at-Large Viola Richardson, and Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop, who each briefly addressed those in attendance.
“We’re happy to host this parade and to celebrate Indian culture,” said Healy to an eruption of cheers from the colorful crowd.
For Persaud and the 20 relatives that have joined her, some as far away as Pennsylvania and Florida, the parade is only the beginning of a day that includes “lots of food, dancing and just lots of celebrating,” she said.