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The INSIDER Summary:
- Holi, the Festival of Colors, is a Hindu celebration where participants throw powdered paint, creating a kaleidoscope of color.
- This year, the festival takes place on March 13 - 14.
- While the most famous Holi festival is in India, it's celebrated all over the world.
Holi, the Hindu festival devoted to color, is one of the world's biggest spring events.
Participants celebrate the Festival of Colors by throwing powdered paint on the day after the last full moon of Phalunga, the Hindu lunar month that goes from February to March. In 2017, Holi falls on March 13.
Though Holi is celebrated predominately in India, paint-throwing festivities take place all over the world.
However, these photos prove there's no better place than India to celebrate.
Holi is a Hindu celebration of colors that takes place each spring.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
It's a major festival in India, especially in the north, but it's celebrated worldwide.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
The festivities bring people of all classes and castes together.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
Both the young...
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
...and old get involved.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
People throw...
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
...and blow powdered paint into the air.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
The ground paint is called "gulal" or "abeer."
Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
Some people throw liquid paint straight from the tin.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
The kaleidoscope of vibrant colors makes for a spectacular sight.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
As well as paint, kids often hurl water balloons or shoot water guns.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Nevertheless, everyone ends up covered in paint.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
The air grows thick with the powdery paint.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
The residue of splattered paint even stains the streets.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
And the walls of buildings.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
But Holi isn't just about the beauty of colors.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
Originally, the festival was about spring and fertility.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
It's also a religious celebration, celebrating Krishna and the legends of Holika and Prahalad.
A woman touches a temple in Vrindavan, a town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
The moral of the story of Holika and Prahalad is about the triumph of good over evil.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
People dance in the paint to the dhokal (a hand-drum), and there's folk singing.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
At the end of the festival, participants are literally covered in paint from head to toe.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
You're lucky if you don't get it in your eyes.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
Though it's inevitable that the paint will get all over your hands.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
