Indian Student Organization hosts annual Holi Moli

East Carolina University’s Indian Student Organization (ISO) hosted their annual Holi celebration, Holi Moli on March 15 on the Main Campus Student Center lawn.

SriPallavi Yendamuri, senior biology major, said Holi is a festival of colors that takes away the bad and evil spirits and brings in new spirits. She said it is always around the springtime and everybody comes together to throw powdered colors and listen to music.

Yendamuri said Holi was one of those events that got people together, like Diwali. For Holi though, she said, it’s one of those events that’s more than a cultural event but a social one for people to connect.

“It’s just a good time for everyone,” Yendamuri said. “Everyone just enjoys the music and has a good time throwing color on people and welcoming spring and good vibes.”

Joanna Matthew, junior biology major, said this year the ISO wanted to do more than previous years. She said the ISO brought two ECU Indian dance teams, ECU Rass and ECU Khazana to perform.

Matthew said there were about 40 pounds of color and t-shirts for people to decorate and use when throwing color and to take as a keepsake. There was also a presentation at the beginning of the event, she said, to educate people who may not know about Holi.

“The event was good for exposure,” Matthew said. “We do it on the student center lawn and a lot of people walked by interested and wondered what we’re doing because Indian students are a very small population on campus so it helped with a lot of visibility.”

Dhanushi Dedakia, junior physics major said everyone had an opportunity this year to decorate their shirts two days before the event with phrases like ECU Holi 2024 or Holi Moli, the name of the event so no one's personal clothes were ruined.

Dedakia said the ISO is working to connect with people on ECU’s Health Sciences Campus for this event and others as well to connect the community together through these large scale events.

“Bringing the community together through these events helps us network,” Dedakia said. “We’re making sure this stays a tradition and we can share our culture so that those who aren’t graduating and now know about the event can come back.”