TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Due to its extraordinary handling of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Taiwan will on Sunday (June 21) be the only country so far this year to hold an "Indian Holi Taipei" festival.
The festival, hosted by Mayur Indian Kitchen (MIK), is titled "Taipei Holi2020 @ Thanking Taiwan for Helping India Charity Event." It will take place at Taipei's Dajia Riverside Park.
Attendees from more than 20 nations will enjoy food, drinks, music, dance, watercolors, and cultural performances, according to the organizer and owner of MIK restaurants, Mayur Srivastava. "Most importantly (there is) a COVID-19 free environment because of the wonderful efforts by the various bodies of the Taiwan government to contain the virus."
The Holi festival is a "festival of colors" when participants throw colored dye and powder at each other. The festival is normally held in March, but due to the pandemic, it was canceled in India and by overseas Indian communities across the globe, including Taiwan.
However, as Taiwan has gone over two months without a local infection and because the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has loosened crowd restrictions, MIK is organizing the world's first major Holi event this year. Srivastava told Taiwan News he is "100 percent" certain this is the only major Holi festival so far this year and "for me, it is a real big thing."
Srivastava said that Indian communities in other countries are unable to organize major Holi gatherings as everyone is struggling to deal with the coronavirus. "We are thankful to Taiwan that we can follow our traditions, culture and share happiness, food, colors to life because Taiwan has contained the disease."
The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Taipei's Dajia Riverside Park, near Floodgate 8. Ticket prices are NT$400 for adults, NT$200 for kids and students, and advanced tickets are NT$350.
Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the PM Cares Fund to provide aid to coronavirus patients, relief housing, quarantine costs, personal protective equipment (PPE), and research. Srivastava said that his restaurants in Taipei, Hsinchu, and Taichung will also make a donation to the fund after the event.
The festival will feature the chanting of Vedic mantras, shlokas, a prayer for human lives, and the world. This will be followed by ISKCON Taipei Krishna chanting, an English live band, Indian music, dance, an Indian lunch, and fun with watercolors.
Mayur Indian Kitchen has been organizing Holi since 2012 on a non-profit basis to bring the community together with the idea of "we are one world," similar to the splashing of colors blurring cultural and ethnic differences.
For tickets and information, contact Mayur Srivastava:
Line: mayur.indian
Email: [email protected]
Mobile : 0921004175
Website: indianfoodtaiwan.com
Facebook: Taipei Holi 2020
