Holi & Songkran

Held on Saturday April 18th, 2026, this event was part of my American Identity series.  I have always believed that one of the greatest resources of the United States are the many different cultures and people that make the US.  While this diversity can sometimes divide, if harnessed correctly, it can lead to profound beauty, collaboration, peace and unity.  Therefore, in my American Identity Events, I bring together different cultures and then mix them together to innovate a new event that perhaps hasn't existed before.  In the process, we have tons of fun while bringing community together.  

In this event we mixed the celebration of Holi (from India) and Songkran (Thai New Year). Before the event began, we had an epic Indian-based communal cooking session!

This event was in collaboration with Ranjith, Mother, Watchara, Jesse and Nellie.

Part 1: Communal Cooking with Ranjith and Family

Ranjith has been exploring how to preserve the color of vegetables when cooking.  For example, take a look at the saag paneer that Ranjith and family made.  Look how green that looks! That is the natural color of the spinach with no added food coloring using a method that Ranjith has been refining. 

Part 2: Overview of Holi and Thai New Year

Mother provided an overview of Holi which you can read more about on her webpage.  When designing our event which contains elements of both Holi and Thai New Year, we took the following ideas from Holi: 

• A sacred fire which represents transforming negative energy into something positive.

• Playing with colored powder which represents the importance of community. 

Then, Watchara and Jesse provided an overview of Thai New Year.  The elements that we took from Thai New Year for our event included:

• Honoring the elders

• Playing with water 

Part 3: Our Celebration

The Sacred Fire (from Holi)

Everyone found a twig that resonated with them and then thought about what negativity in their lives they wanted to transform.  In our discussion, one idea was that negative events in our lives can have purpose and meaning if we can think about how to use them as a way of self-transformation. 

Honoring the Elders (from Thai New Year)

This was one of my favorite parts.  We had 3 elders (Mother, Susan and Anita) sit in chairs and all of the youngsters lined up and asked for blessings.  

Playing Holi