khol daar khol, laglo je dol
- A famous line from eminent poet Rabindranath Tagore’s Vasant Utsav Songs Collection. With this line, he said Open the doors, festival of colours is here.
With that note, spring is the season of new beginning and we all welcome season with Vasant Utsav i.e., Holi. India is a land of diverse culture. From Puranas to Vedic scriptures, India is rooted to celebrate change of each season with each festival. The festival of Colours embarks the Spring season wherein we start our new beginnings with different colours. Every corner of India plays Holi with grace, and people exchange love by applying colours.
Holi is celebrated on the Full Moon Day and it reflects happiness, friendships, positive emotions, triumph of good deeds over the evil ones. It is also about mouth-watering delicious sweets and snacks that every Indian household prepare during Holi.
Under the guidance of the teachers, the students participate in preparation of natural colours. Dried flower powder, flour, cornflour, turmeric dust etc are used to prepare vibrant colours. It is an interactive activity in school where all the students and teachers participate and enjoy the process of making colours for a celebration.
The celebration is an informal day so the Holi dress code must be DIY mostly in white/ yellow colour base. So, the teachers and students come together and paint their white kurtas / sarees in lively colours to make it Holi special.
Using different paper arts and crafts ideas, both teachers and students opt for Holi-theme decor for the entire campus including each classroom. They even choose each State of India and enact how that particular Indian State plays Holi, and reflect their speciality. For example- For UP- it is “lathmar Holi”, For West Bengal- “Vasant Utsav with flowers and stick dance” and so on.
Food is an integral part of any Indian festival. Hence, each class participates in preparing some special snacks and sweets at school, they bring it from their home as well.
School is a learning platform and with this ‘utsav’ and ideas children learn about the festival, its history, Indian culture and even understand the meaning of team work. Mayoor School, Siliguri wants to inculcate these social development skills in each student so they become confident in life and embrace any challenge with grace and fearless attitude.
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