Holi festival celebrated with bursts of colour across India

(25 Mar 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4485067

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ahmedabad - 25 March 2024
1. Various high shots of thousands of people attending a Holi festival event in a temple, coloured water being sprayed
2. People celebrating Holi festival
3. Purple powder sprayed onto crowd celebrating festival

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mumbai - 25 March 2024
4. Women dancing; UPSOUND (English) “Happy Holi”

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New Delhi - 25 March 2024
++AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING++
5. People dancing in street and throwing coloured powder, faces covered with colour

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Prayagraj - 25 March 2024
6. Women applying colour powder on each other
7. Women dancing to drumbeats

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hyderabad - 25 March 2024
8. Children applying colour on each other and playing

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jammu - 25 March 2024
9. People on motor bikes with faces coloured, celebrating

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kolkata - 25 March 2024
10. Various of women and girls in traditional dresses dancing to music
STORYLINE:
Millions of Indians celebrated Monday the Hindu Holi festival, dancing to festive music, exchanging food and drink and smearing each other with red, green, blue and pink powder, turning the air into a joyful kaleidoscope of colour.

Widely known as the Hindu festival of colours, Holi marks the arrival of the spring season in India, Nepal and other South Asian countries as well as the diaspora.

It celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, and signifies a time of rebirth and rejuvenation, embracing the positive and letting go of negative energy

Across the country, people — some dressed in all white — celebrated the festival by drenching one another in coloured powder while others flung water balloons filled with coloured pigment from balconies.

Some used squirt guns to chase down fellow revelers in parks, and others danced on the streets to music blaring from speakers.

Food and drink are a big part of the festivities.

Vendors in parts of India sold Thandai — a traditional beverage prepared with milk, dry fruits and can sometimes be laced with cannabis.

Another tradition that marks Holi is Bhang, a paste made by grinding the leaves of the cannabis plant and is used in drinks and snacks.

It is connected to Hinduism, particularly to Lord Shiva, and is eaten during some religious festivals in the region.

The paste's sale and consumption are permissible under Indian law, although a few states have banned it.

In parts of India, people also lit large bonfires the night before the festival to commemorate the triumph of good over evil.

Holi traditions vary across India.

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