BURSTS of coloured powder exploded above a feverish dance floor in Albury as the Indian community marked its Holi festival yesterday.
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Bollywood music blared from speakers as they threw, splashed and smeared every colour of the rainbow across each other’s smiling faces.
Held at Hovell Tree Park, Holi is known as the festival of colour and love.
By celebrating the festival, feuds are forgotten and grievances forgiven.
Gunjin Patel, masked in neon blue and green powder, said the festival meant a great deal to his community.
“When you colour each other it means we let the guilt go from our hearts,” he said. “It’s a time when you let everything go and start anew.”
Holi was the third annual Albury Council Harmony Day event and drew about 100 revellers, including non-Indians.
Bopping along to the tunes covered head to toe in colour, the president of the Albury- Wodonga Indian Australian Association, Aruna Gandhi, said song and dance was in Indians’ blood.
“I can’t stop dancing,” she said.
“It’s pure joy.”