At a Henderson park earlier this week, people threw, blew and rubbed pink, orange and purple powder on one another to spread love and peace and welcome springtime.

The vibrant powder called gulal is part of Holi Hai, a Hindu festival akin to Valentine’s Day but focused on true love and respect. Dr. Ram Singh, president of Friends of India Las Vegas, said Holi is as unique as Hindu culture — a national holiday dedicated to starting over and giving forgiveness and redemption that welcomes all people no matter their background.

“You always show the love and respect by color touching, and it’s mutual because the consent is already there,” said Singh, whose group organizes the event. “It’s like a love-respect … and that's such a phenomenon.” 

Featuring color touching and 100 women dancing in colorful gowns from India, Holi is also known as the festival of colors. Nearly 500 people attended this year’s festival at Mission Hills Park, enjoying samosas, donut holes, milk tea and other Indian dishes. Organizers said attendance easily would have doubled if it was open to the public.

“It's a very positive event that happens … and we need this positivity in this world of ours now,” said Purbasha Banerjee, vice president of cultural affairs at Friends of India Las Vegas.

The organization has held Holi festivals for more than 20 years with the intention of fostering an inclusive space where Asian Indian culture and heritage can be maintained, shared and experienced. Singh said the festival has generated an overwhelming response from the community, forcing them to make it a private event with limited capacity.

Mamta Odhrani, a Southern Nevada resident, said she and her children love going to the Holi festival and that it fosters a new space between them because – through their acts of throwing colored powder on each other – power dynamics dissolve. 

The festivities included 100 women from the local Asian Indian community learning a folk dance called Ghoomar, which originated in the northern India state of Rajasthan.

Real-estate agent Kamal Asnani, who was born in India and lived there for 18 years before moving to Las Vegas, spoke of the richness of being one of the dancers. 

She said rehearsals formed bonds between participants and local Asian Indian families as they prepared for the dance performance. Preparation sessions — sometimes held at temples and sometimes held at the park — included prayers, dancing and authentic home-cooked food prepared by local Asian Indian families.

“We made [rehearsal] like a picnic,” Asnani said. 

She said the tradition of celebrating Holi with color touching stems from Hindu scriptures and symbolizes a victory or triumph of good over evil. The festival helps her stay connected to her home country decades after she left.

“I've been [in Las Vegas] 30 years. So it's very important for me to be here and be with my people and celebrate with them,” she said.

Check out photos from the event below: