Lisa Danielle takes us on a journey to celebrate the Ancient Hindu festival – Holi follow along as Lisa recaps this incredible festival.
Recently we found ourselves living vicariously through one of our favourite influencers while she attended the famous Holi Festival in Udaipur, India. Lisa Smith, AKA Lisa Danielle and her husband Jamie flew over especially to attend the festival for the first time. Naturally, we wanted to find out if being covered in colour is as fun as it looks! Before she disappeared on her next adventure, we managed to chat to Lisa about her experience.
The ancient Hindu festival, which is referred to as ‘The Festival of Love, Spring, or Colours’ signifies the first day of spring. It is a day to play and laugh, to forgive and forget and originates from a legend of good overcoming evil. Everyone throws colour on each other, dances, and parties the day away!
The festival is held in most cities in India as it is a national holiday, though is most prominent in the Rajasthan area. We were recommended by a friend to celebrate Holi in Udaipur, as it can offer a more relaxed experience being one of the smaller cities. It also plays host to a sweet little accommodation on the waterfront called Jagat Niwas Palace, which we loved and it was great value for money! We were warned that if we wanted to visit the more built up areas the festival can become really intense, in particular for women and tourists.
Our first experience of Holi was at a private event hosted by the Taj Lake Palace, and to be honest I felt a little guilty going…like I wasn’t experiencing the real thing. But in the end I was so glad we went, it warmed us up for the street parties and gave us an opportunity to get some great snaps in a more relaxed environment!
When we headed out to the street events, there was a square FULL of locals jumping around, dancing, throwing colour on each other. We counted to three, took a deep breath, and in we went! I was both scared and excited at the same time, and then came the colour! At the private event, the colour was supplied whereas on the street you need to purchase your own from the locals.
Little did I know that everyone actually rubs the powder onto your face, and sometimes straight into your eyes and mouth which didn’t feel too good haha.
I believe the powders are made with food colouring and corn starch, and depending on where you go they can come with a risk of being toxic. Though if you look hard enough you can find safer, organic powders (how very Byron Bay of me, haha). Also beware – the powder we were showered in did not come out of our clothes!
We just used our IPhone to take the photos in the end and they turned out really well! No damage done, though I can’t say the same for our camera… we took it in a big zip lock bag, cut a hole where the lense is and taped around it. Unfortunately, Jamie didn’t get the zip lock closed properly before we got showered in powder! Safe to say it didn’t end well – sadly the lens is now not working due to that little experience.
I won’t sugar coat it – Holi can be super overwhelming! Maybe the excitement is heightened by the full moon… But through the colour and the crowds, and the times I literally couldn’t see where I was walking, we all held hands and managed to stay together and have an incredibly fun time!
Holi was a beautiful cultural experience and is definitely up there with one of my favourites.
People partied for the whole day and into the night, even longer in some cities. I’m all about dragging out the good times too, haha! It was just so amazing to see all of the locals come together and celebrate. I’ve never seen so many smiles or received so many hugs in one day! As far as I know, anyone is welcome to attend. Just make sure you’re not claustrophobic!
Lisa Danielle wears our Harlow Gown Natural
Captured by Jamie Green | Oh So Mellow
