March 19th - March 30th (aka: Color Fest!)

I've been really bad about posting, but its really not my fault... :) between tests and research papers and everything else... but thankfully I'm pretty much done with those, and I only missed 13 days of posting... :)  I know... pathetic... So to make up for it, i'm going to do a big post that tells the story of the Color Fest!  So, here is 13 of my favorite pictures from the color fest.  The one downside to this is that you will probably see these again in a different post when I do my final photo-essay... but I'm sure you'll all live... :)

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So for those you who are unfamiliar with the Color Festival, in a sentence it is an Hare Krishna festival originating in India that celebrates the coming of spring.

I arrived a few hours early to the festivities so that I could be sure to get a picture of everything (and get good parking!:)) I decided to head up to the temple first and as I walked Inside the temple there was dancing and chanting that helped set the mood for the festival. In fact, it did such a good job of setting the mood that when I emerged from the temple I looked around and saw a small village in India with little souvenir shops set up around the temple for the festival goers...

Couples always catch my attention, whether they are sitting close together, holding hands, or just talking... I think its because I love the way humans form relationships. Its so interesting... needless to say, this comes out in my pictures a lot, whether it is the two viewing the gathering crowd or the wild ones taking part in the premature color throwing...  

Another surprise i found on my trip to India was the age distribute... young and old all came to celebrate spring even if they were too young to leave the stroller or too old to stand... 

As it got closer to the climax of the festivities, the "official" throwing of the color that was already painted on everyone and tinging the air, the crowd settled down on a hill in front of the temple to enjoy the music and story telling. 

The anticipation built as the time drew closer... as the countdown neared its end the excitement was tangible and almost oppressing in its intensity, with the last few numbers it seemed the air itself couldn't hold another molecule of anticipation and finally had to explode in a rainbow cloud of color.

Within seconds the air was so thick that it was difficult to see in front of you, much less breathe. One thing was crystal clear in that fog of color. It was spring now. All the built up energy from being couped inside all winter was finally liberated and as the sky cleared, spring itself seemed to come with it.

As the shroud of color was swept away my illusion was carried with it, leaving me high and dry in normal old Utah, but for a few hours I got to pretend I was far away, joining another culture as it beckoned in springtime...