Coming Sunday, douse your friends with colors, dance the day away on Bollywood numbers and live music as thousands of people from various nationalities are set to get together and celebrate Holi – the Indian festival of colors and joy in Busan city of South Korea.
To be held at Gwangan Beach this Sunday on May 5, also the Children’s day; the whole-day event HOLI BUSAN is being organized by the Indian Community in Korea (ICK), which has been organizing it for the last eight years in the row.
One of the major festivals of Korea this year, it is being promoted by Busan Tourism Organization (BTO).
And the participants not only happen to be the Indians living in Korea but also the Koreans and others from different countries too as last year the participants were from more than 20 countries globally.
“The preparation and collection of the color package will start from 11:30 AM and the color throwing celebration along with different performances will start from 2 PM until 5 PM. We are expecting close to 2,000 participants for this year festival. BTO is collaborating with us and we together are preparing a guidebook for all the participants that will include Busan tourist info & discount coupons for various places in Busan. Participants from all different regions of Korea come to celebrate this festival every year,” said Ami Arora, one of the founders of ICK.
HOLI BUSAN was first started in the year 2011 by a few Indian community members. Since then it has become as one of the biggest expats events not only in Busan but all over Korea.
“The festival was first started to spread multi-cultural activities in Korea and we have chosen the venue as Busan intentionally as despite being the second biggest city in Korea, there are not many global activities here in Busan. Since then the festival has become a representative festival of Busan,” Arora added.
The organizers celebrate the festival every year for the sole purpose of cultural awareness and to represent the image of Busan as a global city in Korea.
Since last year, Bollywood Restaurant has been organizing the event and has made the event free for everyone.
“We have also changed the previous name from “Holi Hai” to “HOLI BUSAN” since it sounds more modern. The venue has also been moved to Gwangan Beach from Haeundae beach due to its geographical location. This festival is a non-profit event and most of the funds are covered by the community members and the Bollywood Indian Restaurant at Gwangan Beach,” said Arora.
In the previous years celebrating the HOLI festival in Busan, the event witnessed children kids as young as 2-3 years old to grandmothers participating and cherishing the festival that had participants from more than 20 countries globally.
Participants from all different regions of Korea come to celebrate this festival every year. The festival is free for everyone to attend.
In addition, participants can register for exclusive HOLI Busan T-shirt and color themed snacks for just $10 that can be purchased through www.busancoupon.com
Like every year, this year also the number of performances have lined up from International DJ’s to foreign performers to Indian traditional performances.
