New York Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar is launching a Holi tour across New York City to celebrate the festival of colors, marking the arrival of spring. She will be featured at many vibrant Holi events across the city.
The holiday is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains. Holi’s most iconic tradition is celebrants pelting each other with colored powder.
Festivities commence this Sunday, March 24 at 11:30 am at the Seaport in Manhattan for a Holi celebration hosted by The Culture Tree, according to a media release from the lawmaker’s office.
At 2:00 pm the same day, Rajkumar will be the Guest of Honor at the India Association of Long Island Holi celebration at the Asa’Mai Hindu Temple located at 80 East Barclay Street in Hicksville.
On Sunday, March 31, she joins the Holi celebration at the Vishnu Mandir Temple, located at 1216 Noble Avenue in the Bronx at 1:00 pm.
The pinnacle of the tour comes on Sunday, April 7 at 2:00 pm when Rajkumar delivers remarks at the 36th Annual Phagwah Parade, in Phil Rizzuto Park in Richmond Hill.
A cherished annual event for New York’s Little Guyana, the parade is one of North America’s largest celebrations of Holi, known as Phagwah in the Indo-Caribbean community.
Organized by the Federation of Hindu Mandirs, Inc. and Arya Spiritual Center, Inc., the parade attracts thousands of visitors each year. Last year, Rajkumar served as Grand Marshal of the parade.
Rajkumar then joins the celebrations at the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean Bar Association of Queens Holi celebration on Thursday, April 18 at 7:00 pm at the Flamingo Restaurant and Mantra Lounge, located at 120-6 Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Park.
Her tour concludes on Staten Island with the Holi Festival on the Esplanade on Sunday, April 28 at noon at the North Shore Esplanade located at Richmond Terrace between Nicholas Street and St. Peter’s Place.
“Holi is dear to my heart as the ‘Festival of Colors,’ a chance for us to celebrate all the colors and diversity of New York,” said Rajkumar, the first Hindu American ever elected to New York state office.
“This Holi is also a time when we celebrate the vibrancy of our Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain communities,” she stated. “In the tradition of my ancestors, I look forward to throwing colors on the members of the community, and for them to throw colors back at me, as a sign of our everlasting love and affection.”
