Not everyone has heard of the festival of colours that takes place in India - but we wanted to share a little information regarding this holiday with our readers.
It is truly a remarkable event that includes the throwing of coloured powder and water balloons, Holi as its known has become quite simply India’s most vivid festival.
It is the festival of spring celebrating the eternal and divine love of Radha and Krishna along with the triumph of good over evil, so it’s pretty profound!
India comes to a full stop and it's PARTY TIME (yes this means for us, furniture production, packing, shipping & logistics) as the whole country is preoccupied with celebrations, as they have been since the 4th century AD.
Indians, just like most Europeans and North Americans love to celebrate the arrival of spring and, but arguably the Indians do it better and bigger! As the festival of colors gives the perfect excuse!
This Hindu festival originates in Southern Asia, but it’s now celebrated around the world including the UK and the USA. This is largely because of the huge numbers of emigrants to far offshores.
To be exact for 2021, Holi formally begins March 28th and finishes March 29th. During that period it's no-hold-barred celebrating, the lead up to and the rundown from it are filled with preparations and then the massive clean-up operation, so nothing gets done in India during this time.
In India, the day prior to the festival huge pyres are lit to signify the burning of evil spirits. Many people often throw wood, dried leaves and twigs into bonfires, similar to throwing a coin into a well.
During the days of Holi, entire streets and towns turn red, green and yellow as colored powder is thrown into the air coloring all that the powder touched, can you imagine the mess! Red symbolizes love and fertility and green for new beginnings.
Balloons filled with colors water also create a big splash as they are tossed from rooftops into the streets below.
I guess umbrellas must sell out on those days!
We love the Indian sense of fun and its bright cultural heritage, so let's celebrate as well the spring we all feel in the air today.
Right before the holiday, we were lucky to get one container stuffed and we started adding those collections to the website - Take a peek at the Scott & Orlie and Kenya Collections!
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For those who may be interested in reading up on this situation: the BBC wrote 2 EXCELLENT articles:
First one: explaining the cost of the blockage and
Here is the second on how they propose to free this ship.
SCARY FACT FOR YOU: Experts have said that the blockage is costing about $400 million an hour and that the stuck vessel could take weeks to move. Some ships will take an alternate route around Africa, adding 15,000 miles and about two weeks to their journey (yes that cost will be passed onto us....)