Holi.

We've just about made it through our first major festival-Holi. We've heard many different stories about what Holi is and why people celebrate it, but all agree that it is a Hindu holiday celebrating unity and brotherhood. The outward manifestations of this 'holi'day are that kids, adolescents and people of all ages purchase large bags of brightly colored dyes and throw them on each other for a couple of days.

This is every kid's dream, right? We had a difficult time determining whether or not we should participate. We had many invitations from neighborhood kids, the boy's school friends and even our friends who live here from Austria to 'play' Holi. It was a really tough decision, but in the end we decided not to participate. The boys were totally bummed, even though they were really understanding about why we didn't feel right about it.

BUT THEN while both little guys were playing outside, they were sort of 'accosted' by a group of kids passing by our gate. Inside they marched covered in red. At that point, we let them smear a little more powder on each other and then went in for a bath. In the end, they got to play a little bit after all.

In my language practice this week, I have had a great time asking all the little old ladies how if they are going to play Holi. They got a huge kick out of this and laughed even harder when I asked them if they wanted me to go get them some dye in the market for them.