Well my travels have taken me to Orem, UT. After 11 hours in my little red car you can imagine I was reaady to get out. Of corse I took a lot of stops on the way from AZ. Driving down I-17 I exited becuase I was a sign for Bloody Basin Rd, which is part of the area I worked in (I'll discuss that adventure in another post). There were some fun dirt roads and I pulled over for a little hike up a mountain. I guess that's a rest stop, yea? I drove through some beautiful senery the whole drive to UT and stopped frequently to take pictures, especially when I drove by the Grand Canyon. I still don't know how grand it is though, I only drove by it. But I did see Glen Canyon which is up the river and free.
Now to tell you about this Festival of Colors...
The festival was yesterday and it gave me an opportunity to get dirty, jump in a mosh pit, chant in India language, and see an India temple in the middle of UT. It was at the Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, UT. This festival is a tradition of the Hindu people, which has become a popular event. We chant,
"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna;
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare;
Hare Rama Hare Rama;
Rama Rama Hare Hare"
It is a celebration of the seasons passing from winter to spring and there were thousands of people there to celebrate. That means the parking was insaine. I had to park and walk about 2 miles, maybe more to get to the temple. Why didn't I buy a shuttle ticket?? Good exercise I guess. First, I looked at the lamas. Then I went inside the Krishna temple. But the best thing is the throwing of the colors. Everyone buys this colored powder and throw it in the air after the chant, which occurs about every hour or so. And with all those people it makes a huge cloud of color. And the people involved get really dirty from all the color. Pretty sure most of my color came from people I didn't know throwing it at me. haha.
So I went to a Hindu temple, danced to India music, and came home with a unwhite shirt. It was a really neat experience for me. I hope to go back if I am around next year. One thing I noticed in the crowd of people is that we were all covered in color and messy. There was no black, white, mexican, ect. We were all the same colors there for the same thing to celebrate and praise Krishna (God).
-Wilderness Jane
