Holi - Festival of Colours

Apr 4 2012

Holi, the Festival of Colours, welcomes Spring and celebrates the triumph of good over evil.

It is primarily celebrated in India and communities with large Hindu populations where inhibitions are dropped and people gather to pray and celebrate by splashing an array of colourful powders, paints and water on each other.

Colored clouds envelop a crowd of Hindu worshippers at the Dauji Temple in Dauji, 113 miles south of New Delhi, on March 21, 2011. (KevinFrayer/Associated Press)

Indian villagers light up in Jaav, 113 miles south of New Delhi, on March 21, 2011. (KevinFrayer/Associated Press)

At the Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan, powder turns celebrants into specters of color on March 21, 2011. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Hindu devotees toss colors as they pray during Holi celebrations at Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on March 19, 2011. Holi, also called the Festival of Colors, is observed in India at the end of winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month, which usually falls in the latter part of February or in March. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

Hindu devotees pray at Banke Bihari Temple on March 21, 2011 in Vrindavan, India. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Revelers celebrate on the deck of the ship Peking at South Street Seaport in Manhattan on March 19, 2011. The celebration also included Indian food and music. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

An Indian prays during celebrations at Nandgaon village near the northern Indian city of Mathura on March 15, 2011. (K.K. Arora/Reuters)

In a sea of red, a kerchief of blue stands out in an early celebration of Holi, on March 14, in Barsana in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. (K.K. Arora/Reuters)

A Hindu devotee, at the Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on March 18, 2011.

Hindu devotees join a crowd at the Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on March 18, 2011. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press)

Children gather around a teacher to receive more colored power at their school in Ahmedabad, India, on March 19, 2011. (Amit Dave/Reuters)

Children covered in powder are sprayed with water as they celebrate Holi at a school in Ahmedabad, India, on March 19, 2011. (Amit Dave/Reuters)

Indian revellers daub powder on each others' faces as they celebrate in the west Bengal city of Siliguri on March 19, 2011. In this part of India, celebrants call the festival Vasantotsav. (Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images)

Hugs and smiles are also part of the celebration at Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan. The Holi festival of colors draws its roots from a Hindu legend involving the courtship of Radha and the religious figure Krishna. It is believed that young Lord Krishna was jealous of Radha's fair complexion since he himself was very dark. After questioning his mother Yashoda, on the darkness of his complexion, Yashoda, teasingly asked him to color Radha's face in which ever color he wanted. In a mischievous mood, Lord Krishna applied color on Radha's face, hence the tradition of applying color on loved ones. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

A Malaysian girl gets her face painted during the Holi festival in Kuala Lumpur on March 20, 2011. About 6 percent of the predominantly Muslim nation is Hindu. (Lai Seng Sin/Associated Press)

Hindu devotees play with colored powders during Holi celebrations at the Banke Bihari Temple on March 21, 2011 in Vrindavan. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Red dye saturates Indian women at the Dauji Temple in Dauji, 113 miles south of New Delhi, on March 21, 2011. The Dauji Temple festivities are known for a ritual in which the women playfully hit men with whips made of cloth as men throw buckets of water with dye. (KevinFrayer/Associated Press)/p>

An Indian vendor arranges the arsenal for celebrants of Holi -- colored powder -- at his shop in Hyderabad, India, on March 18, 2011. (Mahesh Kumar A/Associated Press)

A dousing of various colors has turned a Holi celebrant brown at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan on March 21, 2011. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

People smear colored powder on each other during Holi festivities in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Young men celebrating Holi greet a passerby as they ride a bike in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

People smeared with colored powder celebrate Holi in Ahmedabad, India on March 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Amit Dave)

People smear the face of a young man with colored powder during Holi festivities in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Clothes hang from overhead power and telephone lines after they were torn and thrown during Holi celebrations in Allahabad, India, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Men and women take part in "huranga" in Dauji temple near the northern Indian city of Mathura March 2, 2010. Huranga is a game played between men and women a day after Holi, during which men drench women with liquid colors and women tear off the clothes of the men. (REUTERS/K.K. Arora)

Children pour colored water on each other during Holi in Allahabad, India on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A boy is covered with a colored powder called abir during the celebration of Phagwa, or Holi, in the Tunapuna Hindu Primary School in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago on February 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Andrea De Silva)

A man, his face smeared with colored powder, swims in the Arabian Sea to remove color from his body after Holi festivities in Mumbai, India on Monday, March 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Children pose after covering themselves with a colored powder called abir during the celebration of Phagwa, or Holi, in the Tunapuna Hindu Primary School in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago on February 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Andrea De Silva)

A woman closes her eyes as colored powder is thrown on her face during the celebrations of Holi in Chandigarh, India on February 26, 2010. (REUTERS/Ajay Verma)

Men daubed in colors celebrate the re-enactment of a local tradition of "Lathmar Holi", celebrated at Nandgaon village near the northern Indian city of Mathura on February 24, 2010. (REUTERS/K. K. Arora)

A woman, her face smeared with colored powder, participates in Holi festivities in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Men smeared with facepaint and colored powder pose for a picture during Holi in the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati on March 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Utpal Baruah)

Students smear colored powder on each other during a celebration ahead of Holi festival in Indore, India, Monday, Feb. 22, 2010. (AP Photo)

Children, their faces smeared with colored powder, participate in Holi festivities in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A boy reacts as his face is smeared with colored powder by many others during Holi, in Calcutta, India, Wednesday March 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Sucheta Das)

A drunken young man sings as he celebrates Holi in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 11, 2009.(AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi)

People wade through a cloud of colored powder while celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi at Nand Gaon in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, March 6, 2009. (REUTERS/K. K. Arora)

Revellers raise their hands as colored water is poured on them during Holi celebrations in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Amit Dave)

People smear brightly-colored powder on a man as they celebrate Holi in the northern Indian city of Mathura March 11, 2009. (REUTERS/K.K. Arora)

The eye of a student, smeared in colors, is seen during the celebrations of the Holi, in Chandigarh, India on March 10, 2009. (REUTERS/Ajay Verma)

A woman reacts as 'gulal' or colored powder is thrown on her during Holi celebrations held for the Bollywood fraternity in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, March 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)

Girls react after colored powder is thrown on them during Holi celebrations in the southern Indian city of Chennai March 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Babu)

Students holding paint powder of various colors pose as they celebrate Holi, the Indian festival of colors, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 10, 2009. (REUTERS/Amit Dave)

Sadhus or holy men with painted faces sing songs as they celebrate Holi on banks of the Ganga in the northern Indian city of Allahabad March 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash)

Women tear off the clothes of men as they play huranga in Dauji temple near the northern Indian town of Mathura March 12, 2009. Huranga is a game played between men and women a day after the Holi festival during which men drench women with liquid colors and women tear off the clothes of the men. (REUTERS/K.K. Arora)

Men smear colored powder on each other's faces during celebrations of Holi, the Hindu festival of color, in Jaisalmer, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Wednesday March 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A girl smeared with color throws colored powder as she joins in celebrations of Holi in Vrindavan, India, Sunday, Feb 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian boys smeared with colors celebrate Holi in Calcutta, India on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Girls smeared with colored powder are splashed with colored water as they celebrate Holi in the southern Indian city of Chennai on March 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Babu)

Students smear each other with colored powder during the celebrations of Holi, in Kolkata, India on March 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw)

A boy with a painted face looks into the camera during Holi celebrations in Kolkata March 11, 2009.(REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw)

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Categories: Places, Society

Tags: Art, beautiful, Celebration, Colour, Festival, Hindu, Holi, india, Prahlada, Spiritual, Spring

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