Even before the event had officially started, many Washington University students gathered on the Swamp Friday to celebrate Holi were plenty colorful.

Armed with almost 600 bags of colored powder, impatient students gathered around the 240 tubes of finger paint in the middle of the Swamp had already begun to dust their friends with color as they waited for organizers to start the fight.

Organizers corralled participants into lines on the north and south edges of the Swamp. As the fight began, hundreds of students rushed to grab tubes of paint, and the area broke out into a chaos of color.

This year’s Holi marked the first Wash. U. celebration of the holiday in recent years that has not featured water balloons. The switch spawned from a vision to take the event back to its more culturally traditional roots in color.

Instead, the event featured more bags of colored powder than in previous years and the addition of tubes of paint that participants could squeeze at one another.

“I think with the paint—it separates [Wash. U.’s celebration] a little bit from a normal Holi because usually there isn’t paint, but I think it was something that added to the color element and made it something unique for Wash. U.,” sophomore and Ashoka cultural co-chair Tripti Soni said.

Soni said that she hoped that the paint tradition would continue as part of Wash. U.’s Holi celebration.

Though Ashoka had been toying with the idea of eliminating water balloons from the celebration for several years, this was the first year that the majority of the board supported the change, Soni said.

“Of course, there [are] people who are kind of disappointed with the move away from water balloons because that has kind of been a Wash. U. tradition for a long time, but we feel like it’s necessary to move Wash. U. forward,” sophomore and Ashoka cultural co-chair Karuna Tirumala said.

Mariana Parisca | Student Life

Students participate in a colored powder and paint fight in celebration of Holi, the Hindu festival of color. This was the first year the Washington University celebration on the South 40 Swamp did not use water balloons, instead opting for a more traditional and colorful event.

Soni cited both sustainability and tradition as the main reasons that the organization moved away from water balloons for the event.

“In South Asia, water balloons aren’t used at all,” Soni said. “And considering water is a highly valuable resource there, where a lot of people have to drink dirty water, we didn’t want to waste 10,000 water balloons’ worth of water just to throw it at one another, when we could move the event back to its roots and use colored powder and paint.”

Because the event did not feature water balloons, Holi compensated with more powder than in previous years and added paint as a feature of the event. The event also featured a dunk tank to retain an element of water.

“We wanted to take kind of baby steps from moving away from water because we knew people would be kind of upset with the fact that there weren’t water balloons this year,” Tirumala said.

The cultural co-chairs noted that while some participants missed the water balloons, most were happy about the new direction.

“Even though they were a little sad about the balloon tradition, they definitely saw the direction we were going with and the new Wash. U. tradition we were trying to create, and I think overall, they were all very happy with how the event went,” Soni said. “A lot of the people who were out there were freshmen having a really good time. They didn’t have the balloons to compare against—they thought it was just a wonderful way of celebrating Holi.”

Wash. U.’s celebration of Holi has transitioned toward a more traditional, color-based celebration for several years, junior Meghna Kataky said.

“[Color] wasn’t a big part of the celebration at Wash. U. when I first got here. It was a little bit, but not the main event,” she said. “So then we tried to integrate more color because Holi is the festival of color.”

Soni and Tirumala hoped that changing Wash. U.’s Holi celebration to a more traditional celebration would give participants a chance to experience the traditional Holi holiday.

“I was supposed to be studying for a [chemistry] test, and my friend dragged me out here in 50-degree weather, and I’m having fun,” freshman Dilara Hatipoglu said. “I expected it to be a big colorful mess, and it turned out to meet my expectations honestly.”

Additionally, the cultural co-chairs hoped that the color-focused celebration would appeal to South Asian students that celebrated Holi at home in a traditional way.

“From the people in the South Asian community that I’ve talked to at Wash. U., a lot of them are a lot happier because this is what they’re used to at home,” Tirumala said.

However, several students noted that Wash. U.’s celebration of Holi took the holiday to a larger scale that trumped what they had experienced previously.

“We’re doing it big—it’s bigger and better. We get to throw color at everybody. It’s a good time,” freshman Nihanth Damera said.