Festival Fusion: St. Patrick’s Day and Holi celebrations captured in presentations

Image Courtesy: Presentation by Nubiagroup

Celebrations are bound to be double when two extremely popular festivals come calling on the same day. That is what happened on March 17 this year. The festival of Irish Pride St. Patrick’s Day and the Indian festival of colors Holi coincidentally fell on the same day, making it a double delight in those countries where Irish and Indians are swelling in numbers.

Let’s pick up St. Patrick’s Day first. Legend says the festival commemorates the passing away of Ireland’s most popular patron saint St. Patrick who journeyed to this place 1,600 years ago and converted the pagan Irish to Christianity. It’s today an internationally celebrated festival marked with food, drinks and festivities.

Large parades are held and cities are dyed in the hues of green on this day with people adorning green attire called shamrocks and holding glasses of beer colored with green flavors. In Chicago, even rivers are tinted with vegetable dyes to match the hues of celebration. 

Did you know that 13 million pints of Guinness are sold on this day compared to 5.5 million daily?  That’s right. Watch the presentation below to know more surprising facts about this day:

Let’s move to the spring festival of Holi celebrated largely in India, a land of festivals and fairs. Marking the victory of good over evil, the festival appears a riot with children, young and old running amuck, applying colors on each other, spraying others with water guns, some even pouring bucket full of water on unsuspecting revelers, drinking bhang (a paste made from cannabis plants), and playfully hitting others with water balloons.

Strangers become best friends this day and no one is spared from the riot of colors. In some regions, women chase and beat men with sticks! No one takes umbrage too as the slogan goes “Bura na mano, Holi hai” (Don’t mind, it is Holi today). 

The festival is also the best opportunity for singles to apply colors on their crush, for boys to take revenge on bullies, and for older men to drink and dance unabashedly. Watch the presentation below to know how crazy celebrations can become on this day:

What’s the most popular festival in your country? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.