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Nashville Hindus celebrate Spring with Holi

By: John Partipilo and J. Holly McCall - March 21, 2022 7:59 am

A group of young people celebrating the coming of spring with the Hindu holiday Holi. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Members of Nashville’s Hindu community celebrated the coming of Spring over the weekend with Holi, a Hindu holiday also known as the Festival of Spring, the Festival of Colors or the Festival of Love.

About 400 people gathered at Sri Saibaba Temple in Antioch, dancing and splashing each other with colored powder dye. Pink, blue, red, yellow and green dye was everywhere, covering faces, clothes, hair and arms.

“The celebrants throw or paint each other with colored powder. There is much joyous laughter and celebration,” said Sany Shastoui, the priest at Sri Saibaba. “Don’t worry: People will not come up to you and deliberately start covering you with colors–but watch out for the children!”

Photojournalist John Partipilo, who documented the event, said it was “quite an experience.”

“I managed to get my face painted along with a camera and some lenses but the powder comes off fairly easily,” Partipilo said. “I should have listened to the warnings about the children!”

Holi 2022

Pagadala Sampath, a priest at Sri Saibaba Temple. (Photo: John Partipilo)

"Watch out for the children," said one priest of the dye flying about. (Photo: John Partipilo)

(Photo: John Partipilo)

Ved and Ham Ughra taking in the festivities. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A family embracing the colorful festival. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Clouds of powdered dye blow about Holi participants. (Photo: John Partipilo)

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John Partipilo

Working as a photojournalist for 40 years, Partipilo has won awards such as NPPA Best of Photojournalism and nominated for two Pulitzers. His photography has also been featured in national and international publications. Most importantly Partipilo’s work is about people — people in their different environments and people in their different stages of life. That’s the heart of his work. To him people are so important, because they all have a unique story.

J. Holly McCall

Holly McCall has been a fixture in Tennessee media and politics for decades. She covered city hall for papers in Columbus, Ohio and Joplin, Missouri before returning to Tennessee with the Nashville Business Journal. Holly brings a deep wealth of knowledge about Tennessee’s political processes and players and likes nothing better than getting into the weeds of how political deals are made.