The Yerevan Color Party 2017

Living in another country always has its challenges but there are times when you’re quite happy with the choice you made to live an extended time abroad. This past weekend I got to experience a wonderful and exciting event in the Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. It was the Color Party and it’s modeled after the Holi Festival or Festival of Colors in India. A spring festival that’s celebrated by numerous Hindus, it signifies the end of winter and a thanksgiving for a successful harvest. Although I’ve not had to chance to visit this spectacle in India yet it is on my bucket list and the Yerevan event was a nice substitute.

There’s not much to the Holi Festival or Color Party except you are given a handful of colorful powder and you just throw it at anyone in your vicinity. No age, size, sex, class, or family will exclude you from getting a face full of powder. Some places like to include water guns or hoses too since it’s usually hot when this takes place.

I first learned of the Color Party in Yerevan on a Facebook Events ad and thought it would be really interesting to photograph since the footage I’ve seen of the Holi Festival in India was a completely insane and fun. I looked at the date and time and it coincided with some other business I had going on so I booked my ticket. I had just recently purchased a drone and wanted to test it out on an event this big.

Luckily for me, two of my other friends from my organization were also going to attend so I didn’t have to go solo. The event took place at a local sports stadium on a Saturday afternoon and there were a few hundred people in attendance. Mostly a younger crowd, it seemed like there were a lot of students just enjoying their summer off from school. There were DJs and numerous dancers to liven up the mood. I must not of gotten the instructions because it seemed everyone was wearing white to make sure the colors would stand out the most. As soon as we walked into the color zone I felt like a lamb in the lion’s den because the colored powder was immediately thrown at us. Many people were very sly and pretended to not pay attention to us only to receive a handful of powder to the head when we weren’t looking!

We were only there for about an hour because we ran out of colored powder, I had the pictures I wanted to take, and the afternoon heat was getting to us. This was definitely a great experience and if you have a chance to take part in a “color” event I suggest doing it for the spectacle and memories.

Happy traveling.