Today all of India celebrating holi festival - heralding the arrival of spring and passing of winter.During the day hundreds of thousands of people will pour out into the streets for a crazy, joyful battle of rainbow coloured powders.

The festival is partly a celebration of the legend of prahlad - a young followers of vishnu who despite being carried into fire by the demoness holika managed a miraculous escape - good triumphed over evil. In fact, there are many legends that are directly linked to holi, and the reasons for celebrating have evolved over time. It is thought that the festival may have existed several centuries before christ, and althought it started out bearing holika's name, it is now often simply known as 'the festival of colours'.

The day after the full moon, before the festival began, bonfires will have been lit to remember prahlad's escape.Then today, an explosion of movement and colour will be painting entore villages, towns and cities a myriad of intense colours. Many will be calling out this traditional holi greeting.


Bura na mano, Holi hai ( Don't mind, it's Holi )






Traditions linked to the festival vary all over india - the north is considerably more exuberant in its celebration that the south - but Holi is also celebrated in various ways all over the world. From cape town to utah, people get together to cover each other in coloured powders and paints with good - natured abandon.


Only on this day, you have to accept 
that you are all equal and your inner 
minds say only one word 'freedom' and 
that there is only one cause - love'.
freedom to throw coloured water and
powder at a complete stranged, and he or
she will give you nothing but a smile. Is it
not beautiful that all are celebrating their
lives as it should be?