Category Archives: Berkeley

Holi Hindu Festival of Colors at UC Berkeley

Two people touch hands at UC Berkeley's Holi festAs Spring festivals go, Holi is among the most fun. Forget about the Maypole, during the Indian Holi festival people douse each other with bright colors. It usually takes place during March, but UC Berkeley’s Indian Student Association has their Holi celebration in April.

at Holi festival a girl dumps color into another girl's hair.The UC Berkeley Holi festival is a dance party. The DJ mixed house hits with Indian pop music.

The event is free, and you can buy color from the Indian Student Association ahead  time, or day of, until they run out. Ten packets (500 grams altogether) is sufficient but you could use twice as much so it really depends. Try to hold your colors until you make eye contact with someone. Though it can be tempting to merrily toss color into the air when the bass drops or even to toss a little color on someone’s back if their shirt is looking a little too naked of the stuff in your hand. More than once I gave in to this temptation.

Preparing for Holi

The crowd at UC Berkeley's Holi festivalThe colored powder is not paint. Some reports say it is made of corn starch, others say rice flour. In any case it comes right off in the wash, or even with a light sweep or pat of the hand. When shopping for colors make sure to get one that is non-toxic and all natural. Trust, you will get it in your mouth or up your nose at some point!

Woman dancing at UC Berkeley Holi festWhen dressing for Holi try to wear all white, so the colors will stand out on your clothes. In a sea of color splatters, the white spots on clothes stand out, begging to be marked.

There are only a handful of parking spots;  most of the students walked from campus.

Some people bring squirt guns and water balloons. At UC Berkeley’s Holi most of the water play was in one area, so you could avoid it if you don’t like that aspect.

 History of Holi

crowd dancing at UC Berkley Holi festivalHoli Festival goes back to at least the fourth century. The word “Holi” hails from the demon Holika.  The myth goes that Holika pulled a loyal Hindu into a bonfire while wearing her magic, fire-resistant coat. But Vishu saw and magically switched the coat to the loyal fellow, causing Holika to perish instead. Thus the Holi festival is a celebration of good defeating evil, similar to many other Springtime traditions that celebrate survival of winter.

Because of this Holi festivals often have a bonfire. Some say that the tradition of throwing colors comes from putting ash on the face in remembrance of the defeat of Holika.

Holi is the celebration of amnesty and renewal. Old debts are forgiven, others are paid. It is a day of cleansing oneself of regret and staring anew. In this way, though the calendar doesn’t change, it is similar to the American tradition of New Years’ Eve, but a lot more colorful.

A stranger and I toss color onto another stranger at Holi
A stranger and I toss color onto another stranger.

Check out Holi next April and join in the camaraderie. It’s a great way to talk to strangers. You are supposed to throw color on everyone, stranger and friend alike. This is the best part of Holi: walking up to someone you don’t know and having a brightly-colored laugh together.

Acrobats Perform Aerial Show Off of Berkeley Sather Clocktower

This is the Sather Tower, the best known landmark of UC Berkeley…probably the most recognizable building in all of Berkeley. It is one of the few landmarks in the East Bay you can recognize from most vistas in San Francisco.

Today the Sather Clock Tower (also known as the Campanile) turned 100. The Berkeley Clock Tower is the third tallest tower in the world (correction: third tallest university clock tower).

Campanile (Sather Tower) on its centennial

Did you notice the tiny yellow and orange dots at the top there? Those are people. Let’s get a little closer.

bandaloop aerial show campanile 100

They’re acrobats. BANDALOOP do vertical dances hanging from the sides of buildings. Today they performed to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Campanile.

They started on the hour, so the dance was preceded by the sounds of the grand carillon of bells from the clock tower. It was a beautiful day, typical of the Bay Area. Hot and bright enough to burn you in the sun, surprisingly chilly inches away in the shade. We sat in the sun.

It was a solemn dance to music slow enough that the dancers seemed to flow. Like kites.

When they repel off the building, I wonder how hard they land. When they touched brick, sometimes they’d steady themselves, as if from a jolt. But only for a second, and they they’d leap off again, full of grace.

As BANDALOOP danced they’d gradually lower down their ropes, the song ending as they reached the bottom. I imagine they must choose music and choreography, in part, based on the height of the tower they are performing on.

 

BANDALOOP dancer standing on Sather tower holds another dancer in a handstand against a solid blue sky. The Berkeley clock tower is not empty.

Not by a long shot.

It is filled with fossils.

Twenty tons of fossils.

You think I’m writing some kind of poem here, but no.

I mean this literally. There are 300,000 pieces on five levels within the tower.

Hauled out of the La Brea tar pits, the fossils have been at the Campanile since 1913.

Maybe that’s not relevant to this story.

Or maybe it means something that they do their perilous dance over a building filled with death.

They also did a jaunty swing number. The big band music piped through the speakers was impressively balanced: full, but not too loud. The fast pace was a nice contrast from the other song.

 

Just like swing dancers.  In fact, looking at these pictures, it’s easy to forget they’re not only dancing. But for the rope, it’s easy to think perhaps we’re looking down on ordinary dancers from above.

So we zoom out.

aerial swing dancers on the Campanileaerial swing dancers on the Campanile

 

aerial swing dancers on the Campanile

Did you know Carillonists play the clock tower bells with their feet as well as with their hands? It’s true.

Just one more photo of the aerial show.

Maybe this is off topic (again), but this morning I read a news story that declared the three worst places for renters are in the Bay Area. Oddly, instead of thinking, “gee, I should move,” I thought, “I hope other people see this and decide to move so the price of rent will go down.” I’m hooked on this place.

Maybe it’s not pertinent. But I see something like this, on a perfect day like today, and it feels all kinds of relevant.

aerial swing dancers on the Campanile