Saturday, there will be color everywhere on Johnson Field.
The India Students Association will celebrate its Festival of Colors, the second-biggest traditional holiday celebrated in India.
At the festivals, people throw powdered color called gulal on each other.
It's called Holi, and the following day is Dhuleti. The events mark the end of darkness and reference to the color of the flowers and life that surface during the season's transition.
"It's a celebration of spring and the death of evil," said Niriksha Bhakta, the public relations officer of the association. "There is praying, feasting and dancing."
Holi was celebrated in India on Tuesday. UNM's event was supposed to take place last Saturday but was postponed because of the weather.
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Bhakta said she participated in the holiday in India when she was a little girl.
"You traditionally wear white," she said. "It's a happy thing, so everyone comes up and spreads colors on your face and clothes."
The tradition of the colors is based on a Hindu story. Krishna, the king of Dwarka, was credited with popularizing Holi. After being stuck indoors all winter, Krishna would run out and drench girls in water and color. Other boys caught on, and it eventually became a way of flirting and showing affection.
Roshan Rammohan, former president of ISA, said he heard red is the most significant color of the celebration.
"Red is associated with love and romance," he said.
He attended last year's festival of colors, and he said he used to celebrate the holiday in India also.
The difference, he said, is that in India, it's an all-day event that happens throughout the city.
"Schools and colleges are off," Rammohan said. "Neighborhoods get together and surprise people with colors. The whole day they play with colors."
He said the powdered paint is made of mostly organic material, because in the past, it would sometimes irritate people's eyes.
"Your clothes get ruined," he said. "We advise people to wear old things they can throw away."
He said here, the color will come off in the shower, but in India, it stays on your skin for several days.
Last year about 70 people attended the event, and Bhakta said everyone is encouraged to participate.
Music, food, games, water balloons and dancing by the Indian group Josh will be a part of Saturday's event.
Holi
Johnson Field
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
