Holi 2023: What Makes a Successful Event
D. Rains
Published 9, April 2023
Holi, the Festival of Colors, is one of the largest and most popular celebrations in Hinduism. At the start of Spring each year, it comes time to enjoy a fresh start, be that intrinsic growth or extrinsic relationships. The night before Holi, Holika Dahan, celebrates the destruction of Holika, sister of the Demon King, and is a time for prayer that one’s own internal evils are destroyed in much the same way. But of course, this celebration of growth isn’t a celebration without music, color, and excellent food. With delicacies exclusive to the holiday and a focus on repairing old relationships and starting new ones, the streets are packed with people, music, and color. It’s a celebration that covers almost the entire Indian subcontinent, as well as much of Southern Asia. But this year, it also covered New Mexico Tech campus in colors and sound, despite having very few people familiar with the holiday. So what made this event successful?
​
In terms of advertising the event, there wasn’t a lot of information shared. Posters were scattered about campus only a few days before the event, and there was a single email advertising the event, lost to most students in the mess of inbox content they receive every day. While better advertising may have encouraged some people to add it to their schedule, the event also took place on a Wednesday, adding further challenge to attendance, as many students had class or other business to attend to. Based on this, it’s fair to say that advertising was not key to this event’s success.
​
The location, however, was a great contributor to the event's success. Being outside and located centrally on campus, many people were drawn in by curiosity while on campus for class or otherwise. In short, the event’s location turned the event itself into advertising. Rather than being just another forgettable poster for an isolated, invisible event, it was actively the center of attention, an attention grabber for anyone walking by. This, however, had a second essential criteria to meet to bring people in. Regardless of how fun and attention grabbing the celebrations were for passersby, the event had to be inviting.
​
Photo Credit: Dakota
Many people feel the need to be invited as a matter of courtesy, and so stepping past the bounds of the event, for many attendees, requires passing a certain mental boundary. Holi, being a religious celebration, increases the height of this mental boundary for many people, as there’s an anxiety surrounding not being part of the religion, not knowing what to do. Holi managed to pass this by actively bringing in people to experience it for the first time, with no expectation beyond celebration and having fun. As well, because of classes, there was a near continuous flow of people in and out, meaning that people could see others who didn’t necessarily belong, and not feel out of place.
​
The success of Holi on campus can be attributed to its location and approachability. The location helped to keep the event from being forgotten, and reduced the advertising needed. However, its success from here was due to its positive, approachable atmosphere. By lowering mental barriers to attendance as much as possible, Holi brought in people from other cultures. Further facilitating this was the lack of expectation for commitment, both in terms of knowledge and time, as an attendee could show up for five minutes or stay for the full five hours, depending on their schedule and interest. With these factors combined, Holi turned into a fun, massively successfHYul event, and can be used as a model for anyone looking to throw a similar celebration.
Have a pet that you want Paydirt to feature? Send us an email at paydirt@npe.nmt.edu !!