colorful comments...

A little more history on the festival of Holi:


Holi - the festival of colours
As the brief spring warms the landscape, northern India cuts loose for a day of hijinx and general hilarity.

The festival of Holi is celebrated on the day after the full moon in early March every year.

Originally a festival to celebrate good harvests and fertility of the land, Holi is now a symbolic commemmoration of a legend from Hindu Mythology. The story centres around an arrogant king who resents his son Prahlada worshipping Lord Vishnu. He attempts to kill his son but fails each time. Finally, the king's sister Holika who is said to be immune to burning, sits with the boy in a huge fire. However, the prince Prahlada emerges unscathed, while his aunt burns to death. Holi commemorates this event from mythology, and huge bonfires are burnt on the eve of Holi as its symbolic representation.

This exuberant festival is also associated with the immortal love of Krishna and Radha, and hence, Holi is spread over 16 days in Vrindavan as well as Mathura - the two cities with which Lord Krishna shared a deep affiliation. Apart from the usual fun with coloured powder and water, Holi is marked by vibrant processions which are accompanied by folk songs, dances and a general sense of abandoned vitality.

Today Holi is an excuse for Indians to shed inhibitions and caste differences for a day of spring fever and Big Fun. Teenagers spend the day flirting and misbehaving in the streets, adults extend the hand of peace, and everyone chases everyone else around, throwing brightly colored powder (gulal) and water over each other.

The festival's preamble begins on the night of the full moon. Bonfires are lit on street corners to cleanse the air of evil spirits and bad vibes, and to symbolize the destruction of the wicked Holika, for whom the festival was named. The following morning, the streets fill with people running, shouting, giggling and splashing. Marijuana-based bhang and thandai add to the uninhibited atmosphere.

Promptly at noon, the craziness comes to an end and everyone heads to either the river or the bathtub, then inside to relax the day away and partake of candies. In the afternoon an exhausted and contented silence falls over India. Although Holi is observed all over the north, it's celebrated with special joy and zest at Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandgaon, and Barsnar. These towns once housed the divine Krishna.

Each area celebrates Holi differently; the Bhil tribesmen of western Madhya Pradesh, who've retained many of their pre-Hindu customs, celebrate holi in a unique way. In rural Maharashtra State, where the festival is known as Rangapanchami it is celebrated with dancing and singing. In the towns of Rajasthan — especially Jaisalmer — the music's great, and clouds of pink, green, and turquoise powder fill the air. The grounds of Jaisalmer's Mandir Palace are turned into chaos, with dances, folk songs, and colored-powder confusion.

First item of business, Dad, don't encourage any of Todd's jokes. His joke book is as old as Krishna himself. In fact, I believe the Hindus celebrate the day of weak jokes--known as Toddarama, where they burn old joke books and attempt to write new ones to no avail. Second, with all of the colorful people of India heading to the river to bathe, I imagine the Ganges is especially filthy that day, but at least the cholera, dysentery and general filth are very colorful that day. Nothing like bathing in the river with hundreds of flirting teens covered in colored chalk.

How a Krishna temple ended up in Spanish Fork, I don't know. I will find out. I think a VW bus full of Krishna's must have run out of gas in the area and nobody had the nerve to tell them to leave. Thus, they have co-esixted with the local rednecks for years now.

I look forward to the Punjab temple dedication.

KJ

Spell check

Yes, Janet, I know I spelled loses "looses."

KJ

Holi Krishnas Batman...

Here are a few photos from the festival of Holi (festival ushering in Spring) at the Krishna Lotus Temple in Spanish Fork last Saturday. Bubba was grounded so she was "forced" to hang out with me at this event. She admitted to having fun despite being "forced" to go. Boo hoo hoo. Drama queen.

The Weasel lost another tooth and left another letter for the Tooth Fairly under her pillow. She and the T. Fairy have become pen pals via the Tooth Fairy's personal email. Since the T.F. and Weasel are so tight now, Weasel has no shame in asking for more money each time she looses a tooth. She's actually numbing herself up and extracting her own teeth because it has become so lucrative. She has even considered paying other kids at school 50% of the profits for their teeth. We're looking into the tas laws surrounding tooth profits.

We are excited to go to Denver next week. Though I am a little hesitant to fly after spending my last two airplane trips sitting near pukers. Nothing like a three hour flight with the scent of vomit hovering in the cabin. Mmmmmmm, vomit.

Hope everyone is well. I see my nieces and nephews are cute as ever. I hope they find their real dads some day.

KJ

Pictures From The Windy North

Laughing Baby

I had to share this with all of you...it is just TOO funny! This guy is just about cute enough to join our group of chumpsters!

Lizzy's Big Day

When are we going to get a report on Lizzy's big day. I should specify that I'm referring here to her baptism and not her birthday.

We can't wait to hear!

Reunion Cost Correction

I spoke to Karen this afternoon, and she informed me that after some number crunching it's been discovered that the cost per person for the reunion will be $50, NOT $60. Wow! We love discounts! It will be so fun to see everyone!

KJ is in LV to photograph the men's and women's basketball games for BYU and U of U. We hope to catch up with him tonight.

Spring has come to the Greater Desert Area. My daffodils are blooming, as are the fruit trees. The high today was 76 and we're looking at the 80s for the weekend.

Love to everyone!

Fun with Gam-ma and Gap-pa

Felix and Rex certainly enjoyed having another visit from "Gam-ma" and "Gap-pa" (to borrow Felix's terms) over the weekend. But Margie and I did help build the anticipation by talking up the visit extensively the last two weeks.

Given the extent of our build up, the visit could easily have been a let down, but Grandma and Grandpa overdelivered even Felix's high expectations; so much so, in fact, that even after their departure Felix is still calling down the laundry chute after "Gap-pa."

Evidence of everyone's enjoyment can be found in the four pictures that accompany this posting. In the first picture, Grandma was helping Margie feed Rex his first-ever meal of semi-solid food.

In the second picture, Grandpa is pushing Felix through the kitchen in Felix's dumptruck. In the third picture, Grandpa is reading to Felix from the new pop-up train book aunt Amy sent recently.

And, finally, in the fourth picture, Grandma was busy playing trains with Felix.




Please note, in case you haven't checked the blog recently, don't overlook the important message below from Grandma regarding planning details for the 1st annual Johnson Family Reunion.

Johnson Family Reunion 2007

Greetings Johnson Family Bloggers! We're sending our message from Pittsburgh and Margie's posting it for us since we are blog challenged.

We want to let everyone know about the dates for the Johnson Family Reunion. We have reserved the Reunion Ranch by Afton, Wyoming for
August 8 - August 11 (Wed.-Sat.)

The cost for the cabin is $810, and so we divided the total by 16 (we didn't count Macie or Rex) and rounded it off to $60 a person. That is actually $840, but we will just apply the extra $30 to the food budget. We have paid half of it and the rest is due by June 8, so you can send us your money antime before then.

More plans and assignments will be coming, but for now, mark your calendars and get excited! We can't wait to see all of you!

Best Game, Ever!

Valerie, Macie, Dale (Valerie's Dad), and I all went to watch Utah State play ninth-ranked Nevada last night in Logan. The Aggies beat the Wolf Pack in overtime, 79-77, giving Macie a great story to tell all the other nine-month old babies. It was a great game! Adding to the festivities was the fact that Valerie's brother, Trent, was selected in a drawing to try and win a car during a timeout. All he had to do was make a layup, free throw, three-pointer and then a half court shot (in 25 seconds) and we would win a 2007 Nissan Sentra. Well, I wish I could tell you he is now driving a new car, but he did make the layup, free throw and three pointer which is a lot better than I would have done.

Riley stayed in Idaho Falls with Grandma Madsen to have a sleep over - she was very excited.