The Hindu festival of Holi, also referred to as the festival of colors, celebrates the arrival of spring and is associated with the legend of Holika.
In India, Holi is marked by a national holiday, and rightly so. Anyone who ventures out of their home can expect to be smeared in colored powder, sprayed with colored water from pichkaris (water guns), and pelted with water balloons and even eggs.
The Holi festival officially starts tomorrow, but people tend to celebrate all over India — and the world — throughout the week.
Holi has over time arguably become one of the most permissive Hindu festivals, with revelers openly consuming bhang (a beverage concocted from milk and cannabis leaves).
We put together some images of the colorful festival being celebrated in India and around the world.
Colored powders natural and synthetic are sold in markets ahead of Holi.
A worker dries coloured powder for Holi in Gurgaon, India.
Lathimar Holi takes place days before the actual Holi celebration at Barsana, Uttar Pradesh, India. The festivity enacts Hindu Lord Krishna's visit to Radha's village.
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