Holi Festival In India: What To Do And What Not To Do

17 Mar Holi Festival In India: What To Do And What Not To Do

As a regular reader of our blog, you’re familiar with our love for life-changing experiences. You know we left our predictable life over 3 years ago, in order to see the world and collect a whole bunch of memorable experiences. You also know we’ll do anything to tick off the items from our Wanderlist. If you’re not a regular reader, and you didn’t know all that, then welcome to the first of many posts about our desire to collect memories and not things.

We thought it only be right to begin this blog post with that intro, because, well, we will tell you right now that attending the festival of colours a.k.a. Holi, in the mystical land of dreams (that celebrates more festivals than any other country in the world) a.k.a. India, should not only be on your own Wanderlist, it should be right at the top.

It’s simply an unmatched, vibrant, and spirited experience (which you can see us enjoying, in the portraits below).

 

 

We’ve included some photos from our own #DestinationDiscoveries Holi celebration (which we attended in 2018 with The Luxury Collection and ITC Hotels), and these alone should be enough to convince you, so instead of spending time telling you why you should go, we will rather focus on what you should and should not do when you Holi (yes, I totally just used the name of the festival as a verb – it’s that awesome).

Let’s begin, shall we?

 

 

 

HOLI FESTIVAL IN INDIA – THE DOS AND DON’TS

 

DO bring your camera and capture all the colourful craziness.

DON’T be an amateur and not protect your gear – that colourful dust will not only stain your hair and trickle into your hearing orifices, it will grab a hold of your camera’s sensor and ruin your expensive tech. Here’s a cool tutorial that’ll teach you how to cover your DSLR – tried and tested, by yours truly.

 

 

DO research beforehand to find the perfect location for your own celebration (the entire country has planned festivals so you won’t struggle to find a venue, but read up to find out how safe your venue will be). If in Jaipur, we highly recommend going to the Khasa Kothi gardens – they were perfectly safe as the celebrations were organised by the Rajasthan tourism board…and the gardens are only a 2 minute drive from the gorgeous ITC Rajputana, which will happily provide you with enough towels for your post-festival cleansing).

DON’T see the festival as an opportune time to play brave, and go wandering by yourself into the streets. It can get dangerous and out of hand, so try stick to big crowds and have a buddy with you if you can.

 

 

DO cover your entire body in body lotion (yes, in between your toesies too), and your hair in coconut oil to protect it from the powder.

DON’T have your wedding the day after Holi (unless that’s the vibe you’re going for) as the colour will end up staining you, no matter how much lotion and oil you put on – it’s all part of the fun, really.

 

 

DO wear white, making yourself the perfect blank canvas.

DON’T wear your most expensive clothes, as you will end up looking like a 4-year-old-whose-just-discovered-paint-for-the-first-time’s splattered masterpiece (these were our “before” pics – although I waited too long for mine and already had a dash of colour smeared on my face).

 

 

DO make friends with strangers.

DON’T be alarmed when someone you’ve never met walks up to you and smears a giant pile of powdered paint on your face. It’s the thing to do, and it’s really fun if you allow yourself to just go with it.

 

 

DO wear glasses to protect your eyes from the smoky rainbow.

DON’T expect to see much out of said glasses #LetYourInstictsGuideYou

 

 

DO start early in the morning, to avoid the midday heat and chaos.

DON’T forget to eat a big breakfast pre-festival.

 

 

 

If you yourself have attended this incredible festival in India, please leave your own dos and don’ts in the comments below!

#HappyHoli

 

 

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