While some translations may have the word "but" in verse 17, δέ should be translated "and" in this context:

  1. So let no one judge you in regard to food and drink, or in regard to a festival or a new moon or sabbath days.
  2. They are 1a shadow of things to come, and2 the substance is Messiah (Christ).

Almost everyone agrees that Paul/Sha'ul was writing about the Biblical foods, festivals, new moons, and sabbaths. But here is a question we need to ask: was someone judging the Colossian believers because they weren't keeping them, or because they were?

And why does it matter?

There are several clues in the text to help answer these questions. In verse 11 and again in 13 we read that prior to faith in Messiah the Colossians were dead in the uncircumcision of [their] flesh. So most of the believers in Colossae were from pagan rather than Jewish background. Their unbelieving family and friends still were pagans, who likely thought it strange (1 Pet. 4:4) that their loved ones no longer participated with them in the pagan rites of debauchery, and were criticizing them for it.

More clues can be found back in verse 8. Sha'ul/Paul warned the Colossian believers against philosophy, human traditions, and worldly principles. And in verse 22 they are called, "the commandments and doctrines of men" which is to say, not the commandments and doctrines of God. It's a list of the competing influences and idolatries in their society that were in opposition to the Word of God: Phrygian traditions, Greek philosophy, Gnosticism, Asceticism ("do not touch, do not taste, do not handle"), the local mother goddess and moon god cults, and more.

In saying that the biblical festivals foreshadow the Messiah, Paul was saying they teach and remind us something about Yeshua every time we participate.

It's true that verse 14 has a warning about the teaching of those who elsewhere are called "Judaizers." It says that Yeshua erased the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. But notice first that Paul said the requirements were against us, not just against the Colossians or all Gentiles. This writing by hands, rather than by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18, Deut. 9:10), is the set of extra-biblical requirements which limited the interaction between Jews and Gentiles, and by which the religious leaders of Israel in that time placed themselves in the role of protectors and gatekeepers.

But along with wiping out that writing by human hands, faith in Yeshua also brings a circumcision, one not made by human hands (verse 11). Every person who truly experiences that circumcision will grow to love the word of God, will become curious and eager to learn His ways, and will find rest in humility at the privilege of being grafted, or re-grafted, in.

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1 The word "only" or "merely" does not appear in any Greek text, so it is omitted here.

2 Note that Sha'ul/Paul used δέ here (not ἀλλά, which is almost always an adversative). In the New Testament δέ appears more than 2,800 times, and is translated "and" approximately 42% of the time, depending on the critical source and translation.