This year Holi, or the festival of colour, begins on March 23.
While the holiday on March 23 is actually called Holika Dahan, Holi officially follows on March 24.
It's a festival that marks the end of winter and the celebration of spring, a religious holiday embraced by music and of course, coloured powder. On Holika Dahan, there is often a bonfire that is used to symbolize the burning of evil spirits, according to About Travel.
On Holi, families and friends gather to play with vibrant coloured powder which represents the start of a new season, and although the celebration is much larger in India, you can find Hindus taking part in the festivities at local temples.
The powder, which can be made from a variety of ingredients depending on the region, can also be made at home with turmeric powder, dried rose petals and flour, My Little Moppet notes.
And while this may not be the side of Holi non-Hindus tend to see, in the last few years, coloured powder has been the main attractions of non-religious events like the Colour Run or Run or Dye. As Brown Girl magazine reports, it's the perfect example of how the traditional side of Holi can sometimes be ignored.
"I can bemoan the misuse of Holi, the profiting off our culture and the further sexualization of it, but I think worst of all is that it doesn’t give us the chance to share Holi properly," writer Nadya Agrawal notes. "Personally, I love it when I can bring my non-Desi friends to the annual campus Holi function. I can show them a part of my heart and an aspect of my identity as a strong brown woman."
Watch the video above to see Holi in action and check out some vibrant photos below.
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