As Spring is on the way, so is Holi, the bright and beautiful Hindu festival. 🌸
At Essex SU, we’re celebrating Choti Holi on Tuesday 02 March (tomorrow) with a bonfire by the lakes from 16:00-18:00, and we’re celebrating Holi 2026 with traditional paint throwing on Tuesday 28 April, from 13:00-16:00 (tickets available from Wednesday 04 March). All Holi events have been arranged in collaboration with Hindu Society and Indian Society, and everyone is welcome!
We spoke to Priya, President of Hindu Society, and Arya, the society’s Treasurer, as well as Avni and Zaira, the President and Vice-President of Indian society, to learn more about the special occasion.
Describe Holi in 3 words:
Zaira: Messy, fun, thrill.
Priya: Colourful, unity, chaotic.
Arya: Fun, chaotic, colourful.
Avni: Colours, fun, chaos.
Can you tell us what Holi is?
Arya: Holi is a Hindu festival known as the festival of colours that marks the arrival of Spring and celebrates the victory of good over evil. It celebrates unity among our community.
Avni: Holi is basically a festival of colours and joy, the celebration of good over evil, and a time to celebrate, welcome spring, and have fun with everyone.
Why should people come and celebrate Holi with the SU?
Zaira: You get to meet so many people from the university in one place, and you can have fun with all of them together and meet new people, experience new things, and get to know more about Holi.
What’s your favourite Holi memory?
Avni: My favourite Holi memory would be my first year here playing in the fields with all my new friends. It was fun and I met so many new people, played around with everyone, and enjoyed seeing people from different cultures come together and celebrate what I’ve been celebrating since childhood.
Zaira: My favourite Holi memory would be when we spent hours filling water balloons, and as soon as we reached the fields, all the balloons were used against us, and we were left drenched in water!
Priya: My favourite Holi memory is throwing water on everyone!
Arya: My favourite Holi memory is when everyone gets covered in colours and water, and then the colour blends and stays on the white shirt, creating a beautiful collage that’s nice memorabilia you get to keep.
What do you love about being a member of your society?
Priya: I like being a member of Hindu society because it allows me to create a home away from home for all the people on campus.
Avni: I like being a member of Indian Society because I have hosted so many events and got to meet so many new people. I love celebrating my culture here in the UK and giving so much love out and getting so much love back from everyone together; it’s just so fun and rewarding at the same time.
Zaira: As a member of Indian Society, I love seeing our culture evolve with the people here and seeing how fun and engaging it is for the people here as well.
Arya: My favourite thing about being a member of Hindu society is it helps me feel connected to my roots, helps me feel connected to my culture, because the society celebrates a lot of cultural events like Diwali, Holi, and more.
What do you like most about Spring?
Zaira: I love Spring. The long days, because you wake up, you see the sun and you suddenly get that energy, and you want to do so many things all at once!
Avni: My favourite thing about Spring in the UK is the sunlight, the long days, and how everyone comes out of their rooms, and you’ll see everyone in the fields, picnics, parks, everything, it’s so fun.
Arya: I like the fact that I get to see wonderful flowers, the leaves start growing back, the sun is up, I have more energy. When I come out of my classes, the sun hasn’t set yet, so I still get to enjoy my day.
Priya: The sun, the flowers, and having more time in the day.
What’s your favourite colour?
Zaira: My favourite colour is pink because after getting covered in pink paint you look like a pink flamingo going around everywhere!
Avni: My favourite colour is blue. I love blue.
Priya: My favourite colour is purple.
Arya: My favourite colour is red. It consumes all the other colours – once you get covered in red, you won’t see any other colour.