Individuals from Maharashtra, India; Nepal; and Bikaner, India, coat their faces and clothes with multicolored powders during the Holi festivities March 1 at The Green at College Park. Holi is also known as the festival of colors.
Pinks, reds, blues, purples and yellows painted students’ faces and clothes as they celebrated Holi on Sunday at The Green at College Park. Clouds of powder gusted through the air, clinging to dancing groups in a kaleidoscope of colors.
“Holi is basically the festival of colors,” said Satya Rallabandi, president of Hindu YUVA and business analytics senior. “It’s not just a religious thing, it’s also a cultural thing.”
On Sunday, the Department of Global Engagement, UTA Housing and residence life, Dastaan, the Indian Mavericks Society and Hindu YUVA organized and hosted the annual Holi festival.
The festival typically lasts a night and a day, starting with a bonfire the day before Holi to symbolize the triumph of good over bad. The religious holiday is based on the legend of Holika, a demon who prayed to be fireproof.
The demon king, Hiranyakashyap, Holika’s brother, asked her to kill his son Prahlad, who did not worship his father. Holika took Prahlad into the fire, but was unaware that her boon only worked while in the fire alone. Prahlad emerged unscathed, as his lord, Naarayana, had blessed him.
“So as we celebrate that, we like to have a bonfire the night before and basically later in the morning, because of the terror she has spread, there’s a lot of darkness and to bring back colors in our life, we celebrate with colors to make it bright,” said Samarth Jagtap, software engineering senior and founder of Dastaan, a Bollywood fusion dance team on campus.
While the festival honors an ancient legend, its impact extends far beyond, bringing together students from all backgrounds.
UTA alumna Aswathi Suresh, 29, waves to the crowd while covered in colored powder during the Holi festival March 1 at The Green at College Park. The holiday marks the arrival of spring.
“It’s really important for international students to not only have a chance to celebrate their culture and their traditions but also share that with a larger community,” said Adam Sichta, director of Global Engagement.
Rallabandi said she celebrated Holi for the first time last year. After becoming president of her organization, she said she knew she wanted to host the event again.
“At UTA, I realized that I didn’t want to let go of my culture, I wanted to be closer to it,” Rallabandi said. “Last year, just seeing people celebrate in the colors, it was just wonderful.”
She said the holiday is normally celebrated with family, but the heart of the holiday is for friends.
“It’s always been about friends, it’s been about friends, cousins,” Rallabandi said. “It’s for young life, young blood.”
UTA student Vidhi Patel, 21, dances with a scarf during the Holi festival March 1 at The Green at College Park. The festival typically lasts a night and a day, and is based on the legend of the demoness Holika.
For many students, the holiday offered a way to reconnect with their culture.
“I’m connecting back to my roots, I’m doing the same thing I did in India, feels like back home,” computer engineering junior Advitya Garg said.
Many echoed a similar sentiment.
“It’s kind of my home away from home,” said Jagtap. “Basically, my friends are my family here, so it gives me the same vibe as celebrating it [with] my family, where I used to do it back home.”
Teams from Dastaan, Hindu YUVA and the Indian Mavericks Society performed Bollywood dances to songs synonymous with Holi.
Dhrumil Rana, computer science and data science graduate student, said the songs chosen were ones enjoyed during the Holi festival.
Students crowd around one another during the Holi festival March 1 at The Green at College Park. The event was hosted by the Department of Global Engagement, UTA Housing and residence life, Dastaan, the Indian Mavericks Society and Hindu YUVA.
“Bollywood dancing is more towards the cultural and the diversity [of] India, cause we will show how our festivals have been celebrated with a specific dance,” he said.
Sherley Sawant, Hindu YUVA cultural head and economics sophomore, said the dances took a few weeks of practice, but the students were all excited to perform.
“This has been my team since the start of fall 2025, and I’m so grateful for them,” she said. “We have done so many performances, and this is our last performance for this year. I am so proud of them.”
Computer engineering senior Ethan Pinto said he spreads the colored powder on people’s faces because it is the first thing that is seen when looking at someone.
“Part of the celebration is spreading the color, spreading the energy and spreading the culture, because I’m a Christian, they’re Hindus. They’re spreading the culture to me. It’s all about diversity,” Pinto said.
“We come here, we meet new people and we spend time with the same old people that we’re close to, so it makes it even better.”
@tay._.sansom @atclements03