Today is a very special day! HOLI, the “festival of colors” is the ultimate celebration of all things colorful! Originating in India & now embraced globally, this spring festival marks the transition from the winter season and embraces the hope & joy that comes with the spring season & new beginnings.
As they welcome the colorful gifts associated with springtime, scores of children & adults alike take to the streets - some tossing out powdery rainbows of color into the air (and onto each other!), while others – with a playful spirit - squirt each other with colored water. HOLI enables us to look beyond a dull or dreary past (figuratively & literally), and spring forth with excitement over the promise of a fresh new start - a start that unfolds like the petals on the fresh new buds that bloom each year - in all of their glory.
This is the excitement we experience each time we see a family in Cambodia enjoying the fresh start they’re given with their new wells or catch a glimpse of the sparkle in a child’s eyes after they've been given new school supplies. It’s a celebration of new beginnings – new possibilities!
Having had the privilege of teaching art classes in 2 different villages in India (2015, 2107) and in Ghana (2016), I witnessed the pure joys associated with the innocence of embracing & playing with color! Like the notes in a scale, the colors of the rainbow enable each of us to sing our own new songs, transforming shades into beautiful visions, if only we take out a little the time to play!
Someone once asked me why I teach art to children in impoverished areas when there are so many fundamental needs to be met -- a valid question to be sure! I responded by saying that - in addition to addressing the essential needs of food & water (“drop by drop”) - I feel it’s ALSO important to feed the creative aspects that reside in each one of us. In doing so, we gain a fresh new perspective on what is possible and enhance our self-confidence in the process.
Today, we can do this by taking the time to ENJOY A DROP OF COLOR!
