Millions in India are celebrating Holi. Here’s what the Hindu festival of colors is all about.

New Delhi — Tens of millions of Indians in elements of the nation’s north and central areas celebrated the Hindu competition of Holi on Monday.

The competition of colours, because it’s often known as, marks the tip of winter and the arrival of spring and is well known on the final full moon day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Falgun.

The celebrations primarily contain households and buddies smearing powdered colours on every others’ faces and drenching one another in coloured water, singing and dancing to drum beats at non-public events and in public. The truth is, it is not uncommon for strangers to assault you on the streets with coloured water.

The origin of the competition is traced in Hindu mythology legends, certainly one of which tells the story of a feminine demon, Holika, and her brother, King Hiranyakashipu.

The King Hiranyakashipu claimed to be a god however his son, Prahlada, refused to worship him. The king and his sister Holika — after which Holi is called — plotted to kill Prahlada and lured him onto a pyre to burn him to loss of life. However miraculously, Prahlada survived and Holika was burned to loss of life as a substitute.

Because of this, the competition can be celebrated because the victory of fine over evil. On the eve of Holi, some Hindus gentle up bonfires to indicate the burning of Holika.

In a village within the western state of Gujarat, an enormous bonfire of 200 tons of wooden was lit on Sunday evening.

Holi is a public vacation in India and one of many nation’s most celebrated Hindu festivals, apart from the competition of lights, Diwali. Enormous celebrations had been held in a number of elements of the nation on Monday. The competition can be celebrated in Nepal, which has a big Hindu inhabitants.

The celebrations even prolong to cities around the globe, including New York.