Mark Gowland is learning that it can be complicated to bring a version of a revered Indian festival to Hamilton when you're a white guy with no Hindu background.

Gowland's A Midsummer's Dream colour festival is coming back to Gage Park for a fourth year this August, but it does so amid grumbling from a select few accusing the festival of "Columbusing" – essentially appropriating another culture for a profit.

- Rame Panchal, president, Hindu Samaj Temple

In response, organizers have partnered with the Hindu Samaj Temple and will host the temple's South Asian Independence Day celebrations at the festival this year, in an effort educate people about Holi, the much-loved Indian celebration on which the festival is based.

"I come at this from a place of absolute respect," said Gowland. "I was absolutely spellbound by the first time I saw a video of Holi. It was like magic to me."

The Hindu community has been welcoming of his efforts and is pleased to partner with him.

Temple partnership takes edges of culture to the mainstream

"We are excited about this collaboration because it means we are sharing with the community and creating the feeling of oneness," said Rame Panchal, the president of the Hindu Samaj Temple. "I hope to see more unity in Hamilton and more understanding among different people."

So can A Midsummer's Dream eschew complaints of cultural appropriation, and thrive as an inclusive celebration that marries the spirit of Holi with the childlike enjoyment of hucking handfuls of coloured dye around on a summer's day?

One expert says yes – but only if it's done with the best of intentions.

If it showcases marginalized culture, welcome it: professor

Chandrima Chakraborty is a McMaster University professor of English and cultural Studies, who specializes in Hindu culture. She says if A Midsummer's Dream exists to foster community and showcase marginalized cultures, it should be welcomed in Hamilton.

"If festivals inspired by religions can help to build a sense of community and coexistence, it's a good thing," she said. But by the same token, when a festival based on a religious ceremony is also a private enterprise, things can get dicey fast, she says.

"If it's for profit or commercial gain, I could see people who celebrate Holi having a problem with it," Chakraborty said.

The festival is a for-profit enterprise, though Gowland heavily emphasizes its charitable aspects. Over 5,300 pounds of food collected at the festival have been donated to local food banks since its inception in 2012.

And it's tough to chastise Gowland over the festival as a moneymaking venture – because he hasn't made any yet, he says. But he keeps at it each year because he believes in the festival and what it represents.

That understanding is key, Chakraborty says. In bringing the marginalized edges of culture into the mainstream, it makes people feel more comfortable in a truly multicultural Canada, she says.

The triumph of good over evil

So what exactly is Holi all about? It's celebrated throughout India, but most especially in the north of the country. It's a celebration where large numbers of people gather and hurl coloured powder in the air, symbolizing the banishment of evil spirits and the welcoming of good spirits for spring.

Take this video for example:

Increasingly, the festival has more of a social significance than a religious one, and is bigger in places with a large student community. At its heart, Holi celebrates peace and breaks down barriers, something Gowland says he has taken to heart.

"I've always held that culture to its most high," Gowland said. So much so, that he called the temple before putting on the first iteration of the festival in 2012 to ask for their blessing.

"If they'd said no, I probably wouldn't have gone ahead with it," he said. The temple gave him the go ahead, but this is the first year they have formally partnered with the festival.

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But Chakraborty also isn't surprised at all that Gowland is dealing with some backlash. One needs only look at the baffling recent practice of young people wearing aboriginal headdresses at music festivals for an example of commodification that has been summarily condemned.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought 'why is this person coming in, taking aspects of our culture and making money off it?'" Chakraborty said. "Without reverence, it just becomes a commodity."

But that reverence is at the heart of the festival, Gowland says. He doesn't profess to be an expert in Indian culture, but he has studied the works of Buddah, Paramahansa Yogananda and other eastern philosophers in an attempt to give that culture the respect it deserves.

"I can't hide the fact that I'm Canadian, and that the festival has Eastern roots," he said. "But I'm doing my best to stick to its meaning."

"I come at this from a place of absolute respect."

You can check out the festival for yourself at Gage Park on August 15. For more information, visit the Midsummer's Dream website.

adam.carter@cbc.ca | @AdamCarterCBC