Holi

Holi is a Hindu holiday that falls on the day after the full moon in March each year. It marks the end of winter in India. Holi is sometimes called the Festival of Color, because on Holi everyone in India throws paint at each other! 

To prepare, folks buy gulal, which are powdered paints in rich colors of pink, magenta, red, yellow and green. Three days before Holi, families get together to sprinkle a little of the gulal powders on each other, to share love and blessings. 

On the day of Holi the whole country goes wild with people laughing and running in the streets; they smear each other with powder, drench each other with buckets of paint, and spray paint with long pistons (like super-soakers). They also fill water balloons with paint! People often show respect for elders by sprinkling dry powder on their feet. 

By the end of the day everyone is covered with color- old people, children, men, women, rich and poor. Holi creates a feeling of equality in a country with strong disparity.

Agenda Today:
1. Make Malpua
2. Have a paint throwing celebration

3. Spring cleaning

1. Make Malpua:

Malpua is an addictive treat from North India, especially prepared during the Holi festival. It's a like a fried donut with a slightly spicy flavor. 

We like to start these before the celebration so they are ready to fry and eat (with hot tea) while we are warming up. 

Ingredients: 

• 1-1/2 c. coarsely ground whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 10 crushed peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder.
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3/4-c. water
• 1/4-c. yogurt
• oil for frying

Yield: 12 pancakes-

 
1- Combine the flour, fennel seeds, peppercorns, and baking powder.

2- Dissolve sugar in water. Add yogurt and mix into the flour mixture to form a thick batter. Set aside for 45 minutes.



3- Heat 1" of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Pour a spoonful of the batter into oil, spread into a thin round shape, and fry until golden brown.

4- Drain on paper. Serve hot.

2. Have a color celebration:

My art class kids love to celebrate Holi! We begin with a ritual sprinkling of dry powder- one at a time we dip a finger in our powder and smear it on each person, to honor our friendship. Then we begin to spray and throw the colored water and dry powder at each other! It’s a blast!

This year I don't have a class going, but I do have a grandson, and we had fun with edible paint. I mixed flour, water, and food color and we took it outside.

3. Spring cleaning plan:

Spring break week was traditionally when my whole family pitched in and tackled the big cleaning chores. Now I've noticed that my energy doesn't stretch to too many big chores in one week, and I've scaled back my goals and spread them out. 

I have three goals for spring cleaning: Keeping up with basic cleaning of each room, cleaning the windows inside and out, and clearing the clutter that has stacked up over the winter months. 

This week I will focus on cleaning the bathroom and finishing with sorting my papers (of which there are an alarming number).