People take selfies at the India Color Festival during a high temperature summer day in Cairo, Egypt, on August 12, 2016. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
by Ahmed Shafiq
CAIRO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's largest Indian color festival kicked off on Friday, introducing fun and joy for lovers of Indian culture in the North African country.
In a vast green playground in Cairo's Hawamdiya district, hundreds of young people, parents and their children, all wearing white cloths, splashed vibrant bright colored powders on each other to celebrate the Egyptian version of the Indian Festival of Colors, also unknown as Indian Holi color festival.
"I like colors; that's why I came here today with my kids," Nahla Nabil, who came with her three kids, told Xinhua. "It is my first experience to attend such an event, but I really enjoy it very much."
She said the dance, music and sports activities people are doing during the event can help them get rid of negative energy, which is very important for everyone, especially children.
Apparently this worked pretty well with her sons who have spent long hours vigorously playing.
"It is a very beautiful day and I very much like playing with powder colors... I hope we will have more fun during the day," Nahla's 11-year-old son Abdel Rahman said with his white shirt covered with a mix of bright colors.
The festival was also an ideal place for friends who seek to have fun away from the crowds of Cairo, the Middle East's largest and most populous city.
"I like to go out with my friends, but we almost go to same places whenever we hang around... this time we decided to participate in this event and I really did not think it could be that perfect," Mahmoud Gamal, a 21-year-old university student told Xinhua as he splashed colored powders on his friends.
The festival was also a great chance for fans of the Indian culture to get a taste of India inside Egypt.
Eighteen-year-old Yara Mohammed is an addict of Indian culture. The university student did not think twice to join the festival when she read an advertisement about it on Facebook.
"I love India, I love its movies and music, I adore the Indian dancing styles and I really feel I'm in India today," said Yara who was dressed in Hassan, a traditional brown Sari garment.
Yara, who came with her two younger sisters, believes that color festival comes with perfect timing since it gives people hope and energy amid the deteriorating economic conditions in Egypt that has been suffering from the consequences of two revolutions that toppled two presidents in the recent five years.
"I hope that more similar events would be held in Egypt because people here really need a pause of the busy and gloomy life we have been going through," she said.
The Holi Festival of Colors is the spring Hindu festival that takes place on the streets of India and other countries with Hindu population.
In recent years the festival has spread to Europe, North America and the Middle East as a spring celebration of love, frolic and colors.
Many color festivals have been held in Egypt over the past few years, but this one is the largest.
Organizers believe that such events are very well met by Egyptians who really are in need for such pleasant activities to help them survive the current hardships facing the country.
"This kind of festivals have been held regularly in Egypt but were all in an Egyptian style. We decided to make it 100 percent Indian. We even asked people to wear white shirts just like Indian people would do," event organizer Kholoud Heshmat told Xinhua.
Heshmat said such events will also introduce the Indian culture to people whose knowledge about India is very limited.
In addition to splashing colors and enjoying Indian musics and dances, attendants also enjoyed local music bands that performed on the stage to amuse them.
"This day is joyful. I will definitely participate in this whenever it is held," Samiha Mahmoud, a mother of four, said as her children reacted to the beats of an Indian song.
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