The Hindu festival of Holi celebrates color, love and spring with a traditional color fight, when celebrators throw colorful red, yellow, blue and green powders at one another. Many of the colors have a deeper meaning; red, for example, symbolizes love and fertility, while green symbolizes new beginnings.
With this celebration holding meaning for so many people, Jerome senior Mananya Ellendula wanted to help more people enjoy it. Over the course of several years she has been a part of the driving force that brought this celebration to Columbus and is working toward a more diverse, cultural Dublin.
Celebrating the Dublin way
In August 2022, students from Jerome and Olentangy gathered as JeromexTangy to combat violence against the Asian community and plan an event to celebrate the end of exams with Holi.
Holi is a cultural celebration dating back to the 4th century. It is traditionally held during March to commemorate the triumph of good over evil and the coming of spring harvest with dancing, delicacies and the iconic color fight.
JeromexTangy wanted to honor those traditions
Photo Courtesy of Mananya Ellendula
2023 Holi Event
Students meeting at the 2023 Holi event.
while modifying the activities to be more accessible and authentic for students of all Indian backgrounds, including first-generation Americans like Ellendula. Some of these modifications included moving the event later in the year to take advantage of warmer weather, but many traditional aspects were maintained such as the classic Indian music, color fight and other activities.
After last year’s success, the students of Olentangy and Jerome separated to focus on hosting their own school events. Jerome students formed ColumbusHoli with the hopes of reaching students across all Columbus area schools so they could participate or plan their own Holi events to celebrate their hard work over the school year.
Ellendula says she is grateful for how involved the students and Dublin community have been in this event over the past few years, and how they have welcomed the celebration.
“The city of Dublin was so helpful. I met with the mayor, I met with city council and they were so helpful. They just had so much advice and they were so willing for this event to happen,” Ellendula says. “It means a lot to us that it was so welcomed and celebrated by Dublin as well because we definitely could not have done it without their support and their guidance.”
Growing Dublin diversity
Throughout her high school career, Ellendula has been very active in broadening diversity in Dublin schools and the Columbus area.
Photo Courtesy of Mananya Ellendula
Ellendula - Diwali event
Ellendula at Multicultural Club’s Diwali event.
Ellendula has committed to helping others connect with their culture and create their own traditions through many of her leadership roles in the Asian Youth Union, Multicultural Club and ColumbusHoli.
Those roles have allowed her to connect with other leaders and community groups, including recent Mayor Jane Fox, Director of Outreach and Engagement Christina Nardecchia and Chief of Police Justin Páez, which helped her bring their involvement into the Holi event.
Ellendula not only was a part of establishing ColumbusHoli, she also helped create the Multicultural Club’s upcoming Garba event on March 2, which celebrates classical dance from the Gujarati region of India.
With all the work she has done over the years, Ellendula doesn’t just want to see these groups flourish now but ensure their success for years in the future. That is why she is helping younger students learn to run these clubs so these events continue to happen each year.
“Once you come to senior year, it’s (about) guidance for the younger officers so that they’re ready to blossom into their role as a leader,” Ellendula says. “It’s about keeping that up and longevity and making sure that we’re choosing the right people and we’re giving them the right support system for them to succeed.”
During her time at Jerome, Ellendula has impacted many other students, including Pakistani student Sabrina Kayani, who immigrated with her family from Pakistan. Kayani chose to attend Jerome because of the events and involvement of the
Photo Courtesy of Mananya Ellendula
Hispanic Heritage Month - Jerome Multicultural club
Ellendula with Kate Read at Multicultural Club’s Hispanic Heritage Month.
Knowing the impact on individuals and the community motivates Ellendula to continue her work to make sure that everyone can be proud of their culture, no matter what.
“Everyone should be proud of where they’re from. They should be proud of however connected or not connected they are to their ethnicity,” she says. “It’s really to appreciate each other and to show that we can still celebrate together no matter how connected or disconnected we are, because, at the end of the day, we are all here to celebrate who we are.”
Dublin 2024 Holi event
On April 20, ColumbusHoli hosts its four-hour event with food, games and more at the South and Central Scioto Pavilion to celebrate the festive celebration of Holi.
Jane Dimel is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
