Plumes of powder and water fights: how Sydney celebrates Holi | Sydney

Swechha Kulshrestha, one of the organisers, says Holi originated as a Hindu tradition in India and is now celebrated around the world.

“The basic thing, which everybody can understand is good winning over evil … this is where Holi comes from.”

The festival is said to get its name from Holika, the sister of the ancient demon king, Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu enlisted Holika to kill his son, Prahlada, a devoted worshipper of the god Vishnu.

Holika tried to burn Prahlada while wearing a cloak that protected her from the flames. But the cloak slipped on to Prahlada to protect him and Holika burned. Vishnu then killed Hiranyakashipu.

“Now we celebrate the killing of evil, with colours,” Kulshrestha says.

Vishal Jani is celebrating with his friends. They are part of a large group jumping, dancing and singing to the music.

He uses his bag of red powder to mark everyone around him on the forehead, trailing down to the nose.

“Holi is happiness,” Jani says. “We stop the negativity and make things positive.”

It’s Dom’s first time celebrating Holi, but with a bag of orange powder in hand, he looks like a seasoned pro.

“Happy Holi,” he says, throwing a handful, dusting everyone around him.

“I’m having so much fun; my favourite part is definitely throwing the colour.”

His friend, Saraansh, who also did not want to give his last name, has been to many Holi events before.

“My favourite part is the water,” he says.

Water fights are part of the festivities. There are water buckets mixed with colour and water guns spread out across the venue.

Neha Sharma, one of the hosts of the event, reminisces about gujiya, a fried dumpling with a sweet filling.

“Those who are brought up in India grow up making gujiya at Holi,” Sharma says. “Those were amazing times.”

Another host, Bhavika Darji, remembers growing up celebrating Holi with a fire.

“My father would take a coconut from our house, and I remember throwing it into the bonfire,” she says. “That coconut symbolises ego, we would burn our ego, all the negativity, all our wrongdoings.”

“What would be left would be a lovely, soft centre, that is the divine part of the coconut. We would then eat that coconut and purify our bodies.”

Seewaa Seth stands on the outskirts of the moving crowd with a beaming smile. “Happy Holi!” she says, smearing blue on to the arms of those around her.

Seth is Fijian Indian and a Parramatta local who migrated to Australia in 2005.

“I didn’t see this scale of Holi in Fiji,” she says. “It’s really great to see here … it’s so bright.”

Sharm says: “The Bollywood dance, culture and performances … people throwing colour at each other and dancing a lot. People loosen up a bit in this world, which is full of stress these days.”

At midday, it starts raining but that doesn’t stop the celebrations. Some hold out their arms and look to the sky.

“Hinduism is a belief in flexibility and changing over time,” Kulshrestha says.

“We believe it means every atom of the universe must be in harmony … so if every atom, even trees, the sky, the Earth, is in harmony, we’ll be in harmony.”