Busan's Holi Festival

Celebrating Holi in Busan

In early April, a friend of Anna's from the U.K. came to visit us and we went on a little weekend trip to Busan together. It just happened to be the same weekend as the big Holi Hai Festival, hosted by Busan's Indian community.

If you're not familiar with Holi, it's a Hindu holiday held in the spring in India and Nepal and is meant to celebrate the end of winter and the symbolic triumph of good over evil. The festival involves everyone arriving in white clothing and then throwing bags of colorful powder and paint all over each other, dancing, forgiving and forgetting, loving your neighbor and basically just having fun.

How I looked at the beginning...

... And several hours later

 Holi was definitely the most fun I had at any cultural event in Korea last year. The crowd was mostly foreign and despite the on and off rain that afternoon everyone was in the mood to party. The music was great, the food was delicious (you could buy curry and samosas for pretty cheap), and I had a great time getting messy and dancing with friends.

Big crowd, even with the light rain

Out on Haeundae Beach in Busan

So much fun

If you find yourself in Busan next April, don't miss out on Holi! If you go, be sure to register on this website to ensure that you get tickets for food and powder (they did start to run out last time and prioritized people that registered online.)

Click here to learn more or to register.