What is Holi?
Holi is the ancient Hindu festival celebrating spring's arrival and winter's passing. Also known as the Festival of Colors or the Festival of Love, people come together on Holi all over the world to participate. This year's celebration takes place on Friday, March 14, 2025.
Why is Holi celebrated?
Holi is a chance for families to focus on the values of love, rebirth and “good over evil.” The festival also promotes a sense of unity and allows people to come together despite their differences. People have been celebrating Holi for centuries and today, celebrations take place all over the world.
When is Holi?
This year we celebrate Holi on Friday, March 14, 2025. Holi takes place during the 12th Hindu calendar month of the year, Phalguna, with celebrations dating back to the fourth century. Phalguna coincides with February and March in the Gregorian calendar.
How we celebrate Holi, festival of colors
Each year’s Holi celebration brings together crowds of people who celebrate with music, dancing, water guns and balloons, and parties. Join patient Avyan and his family as they share how they and other families like theirs are celebrating the Holi.
Bright Holi colors
One of the most important parts of Holi is its bright colors. On the day of Holi, people around the world turn the streets vivid with colored powder which is thrown into the air and onto each other. Many show up wearing white, so they can showcase the beautiful colors they collect throughout the day.
Each of the Holi colors has a different meaning: red represents fertility; green means spring or new beginnings; and yellow is synonymous with turmeric, a cleansing and anti-inflammatory powder.
On the morning of Holi, Avyan and his family take a plate with different watercolors and rub them on each other's faces before heading outside to splash brightly colored powders on both friends and family.
What Holi really means to us is forgetting all your pain and sorrows and reminding yourself how colorful life can be.
Traditional Holi foods
A spring festival wouldn't be complete without food, and there's no shortage of it in Avyan's home during Holi. Avyan's mom makes the traditional Holi dishes of gujiya, a deep-fried dumpling and puran poli, an Indian flatbread filled with flavorful lentils.
Among other foods, the family also really enjoys a sweet Indian treat called paan ladoo, a ball-shaped food made with coconut, betel leaves and gulkand or rose petal jam.
When it comes to drinks, Avyan's family prepares rose thandai or rose milk, a popular drink around Holi. While not a traditional Holi drink, Avyan loves drinking mango lassi on this day, which is a bright orange drink made with pureed mango and yogurt.
An example of traditional food prepared for Holi in Avyan's house
Gujiya, deep-fried dumplings, a sweet, deep-fried pastry
Paan ladoo, made with coconut and gulkand or rose petal jam
Artwork by St. Jude patient Coraliz
Holi decorations
Holi isn’t just about throwing color on your clothes. You can welcome spring and celebrate Holi by introducing new hues to your surroundings as well. Placing brightly colored flowers, vibrant artwork or new furnishings in or outside your home may help it feel more positive, keeping in spirit with the festival.
Why we celebrate Holi festival of colors: Avyan’s story
When Avyan was diagnosed with a brain tumor and his cancer treatment began in 2020, he and his family couldn't celebrate Holi in the traditional way due to Avyan's weakened immune system.
After completing treatment at St. Jude, Avyan was able to celebrate Holi with his family again. He can't wait to throw the colored powder at his friends and family. It's because of the festival of Holi, and all the moments like these, that make them much more meaningful for St. Jude and families like Avyan’s.
Divya and Amrith, Avyan's parents, celebrate Holi
Even in Holi, there are dark colors like black or indigo. When you go through the journey that you are going through, like the kids at St. Jude, always remember that there are dark colors. And then, you have these lighter colors that make you look more vibrant.
Right now, it’s a darker color that you’re in, but there will be a time when you will have the lighter shades, and those will be the colors of spring, recovery and healing that is coming your way.”
How your donation makes a difference
Learn more about the impact of your donation and what it can mean for St. Jude patients and families.
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Your $10 gift could help provide one platelet count test for a St. Jude patient.*
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Your $25 gift could help provide one rehabilitation ball for St. Jude patients. Rehabilitation balls help patients regain strength and mobility after cancer treatment.*
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Your $50 donation could help provide 13 IVs to St. Jude patients.*
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Your $100 gift could help provide a red wagon, which is the preferred mode of travel through the halls of the hospital for our youngest patients.*
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Your $250 gift could help provide five days of meals for a St. Jude patient and their guardian. St. Jude provides patients and their families breakfast, lunch and dinner in Kay Kafe, the hospital’s cafeteria.*
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Any amount supports kids around the world. St. Jude shares the breakthroughs it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save even more children.*
*Items listed here are representative of services and supplies that are part of the treatment and care of children at St. Jude. The cost of each item or service is an approximation and will vary based on actual costs incurred and individual patient needs. Your donation will be used for the general operating needs of St. Jude, where no family ever receives a bill for treatment, travel, housing, or food.
Donate for Holi and help kids with cancer
Your donation helps give kids like Avyan a chance to grow up and continue celebrating their favorite holidays with family and friends.
By donating to St. Jude during Holi, festival of colors, you can help ensure families like Avyan’s never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — so they can focus on helping their child live.
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