On the day after Holi, Huranga Holi is celebrated at Dauji temple, located in Baldeo, about 30 km outside Mathura. The tradition dates back to more than 500 years, when the Krishna temple was established. Huranga Holi is a game where women from the family which established the temple, playfully tear off the mens shirts and beat them up with strips of their own clothes, in the temple courtyard. Men retaliate drenching women with buckets of liquid colours. After some hours the temple is awash with coloured water. It’s a huge family with about 3000 members now, and they all come to the village from across the world for the festival. Being covered in colour brings relative anonymity, and in largely conservative India, this means Holi is a time when men and women and boys and girls can socialize with relative freedom.
Growing up in the remarkably preserved medieval town of Padova, Cecilia has been breathing art since she was a child, surrounded by a quaint, though static, way of living. Thirsty of knowledge, she soon developed a genuine curiosity for everything that was far from her cultural heritage, devoting her travels to the study of anthropological aspects of diverse cultures with a focus on architecture. Far from the celebrated landmarks, Cecilia pursues places that were built for purpose but taken over by time. She celebrates the evolved aesthetic of sites once abandoned.
