On March 11th, near Cumming Fairgrounds, the air was surrounded by a cloud of multi-colored powder as citizens flocked to the venue to celebrate the predominantly Hindu festival of Holi. 

Holi, also known as the festival of colors, is a Hindu festival that celebrates triumph of good over evil. On Holi, people celebrate by covering others and the air with powdered color. Although Holi is traditionally celebrated in India, Sewa International has brought this tradition to Cumming, Georgia.

Sewa International is a non-profit organization that focuses on disaster relief and aiding for minority communities. The organization has been using their annual Holi celebration, Holi Hai, for sixteen years as a fundraiser to raise funds for their cause. 

Sewa International is now known for hosting the biggest Holi celebration in the state incorporating Indian food, dance and music to their festivity of colors. 

Lambert junior Manasvi Gupta attended this festive occasion and had glowing reviews. 

“It was breathtaking,” Gupta said. “There were so many people around me that I couldn’t even see the stage.”

For the past three years, many Indian residents as well as others had not been able to celebrate Holi due to COVID-19. This year, Sewa International hoped to break the festival’s hiatus to reunite the Cumming community after the devastating outbreak.  

“Sewa Holi is to bring the community together,”cumming resident, activist and volunteer for Sewa International, Amod Sureka said. “We got more than 15K people. Kind of a mega event where we don’t have any celebrities right?”

By including diverse communities, Sewa Holi is positively impacting future generations as exposure to the beauty of a culture will increase the embracement of all types of people.