A local not-for-profit community group is hoping to bring the community together through a celebration of food, music and fun this weekend.
Members of International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Barrie are celebrating Holi (Festival of Colours) on Sunday, March 20 at Northwest Barrie United Church and they are inviting all residents of Barrie to join them, said Naina Sharma, lead of the local group.
Holi, she explained, is a 5,000-year-old Indian tradition that marks the end of winter and honours the triumph of good over evil. She stressed Sunday’s event is open to “anyone and everyone” no matter their race, creed or religious beliefs.
“We celebrate Holi to welcome Spring, but there’s a very beautiful story associated with Holi. India has people of all different colours, shapes and sizes. It’s a festival of inclusiveness,” she explained.
“According to the culture … in India we do deity worship. The one we (ISKCAR) consider God is Krishna and he was very dark skinned so he complained to his mother all the time asking why he was so dark and the people around him were so fair. The mother suggested a festival called Holi, and she made colours using flowers that were in bloom.”
The local group, which is working to build a temple in Barrie so that members will no longer have to travel south for their spiritual needs, spends a lot of time striving to make a difference in their community, she noted.
“We do monthly sangas (meetings) where we set up an altar. We perform mantra meditation (Kirtan), sing, dance and offer free food to the local community.”
They also run a local initiative called "Food For Life", where members serve free, home-cooked vegetarian meals to those who need them.
“This year, so far, we have served (over) 450 meals to international students and the women’s shelter,” she said, noting this weekend will mark the group’s first “in-house” celebration of the year.
“We know people are struggling. We want to bring the God consciousness," she explained. "Even when we serve the food, we first offer it to our deities and then we serve it.
"We serve it out of love and out of care. We want to bring that feeling back… we feel the morality, the culture … and the music is missing,” she said.
“It’s bringing people to the same note. We still believe in that higher supreme power, so this is one way to be serving,"said Sharma. "Food brings miracles in our culture when served right, so we are serving karma-free meals, which means we are not doing it so we get any benefit in return. We are doing it just to serve the community and because we want goodness for our community.”
