Holi 2019: This is how the festival of colours is celebrated in India

Pic courtesy/ Twitter/ ANI

New Delhi: Holi is a celebration of joy and goodness and marks the season of spring. People dance, enjoy music and also smear colours on each other. India known for its diversity celebrated Holi with same zeal and excitement in different cities of the country. Keeping the fervour, frolic and essence of the festival alive, people of Vrindavan on Wednesday, gathered at the Banke Bihari temple and celebrated the festival of colours in full swing on the auspicious day of Holika Dahan or Choti Holi.

To mark the occasion, the devotees and saints performed aarti in the temple and, thereafter, played with dry colours (gulaal). The local residents celebrated the festival with happiness and enthusiasm, while also smearing each other with dry colours at the Banke Bihari temple which is dedicated to Lord Krishna. Meanwhile, in Bhopal, people chose to go eco-friendly this time. The local residents of the city used cow dung for celebrating Holika Dahan.

A scientist from Bhopal, Yogen Kumar Saxena spoke to ANI and said, "The people of Bhopal have started using cow dung as a more effective way of burning corpses in the cremation grounds in the city. They use cow dung to make wood like logs which are then dried out in the sun to remove the moisture in them. Those logs are also being used for performing Holika Dahan. Bhopal is now becoming eco-friendly."

The festival of Holi, which is celebrated across the country with great enthusiasm every year, marks the triumph of good over evil, along with the arrival of the spring season. On this occasion, people apply colours in each other's face and relish the festive sweet 'Gujiya' and have 'Thandai' with friends and family during evening. A day before Holi, people celebrate Choti Holi, where they burn stash of woods to fend off evil.

Amritsar, Kanpur, Vrindavan, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Tripura, Ludhiana, Bhopal are amongst the few cities that celebrate the festival in a grand manner.

To experience the grand celebration and riot of colours, travellers from around the world visit Barsana. In Vrindavan too, Holi celebrations begin early and continue for about a week. With chants of hari bhajans, dance, colours, water, flowers and lip-smacking sweets, the festival is celebrated with great joy.

Border Security Force (BSF) also celebrated Holi in Amritsar with great zeal and enthusiasm.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from ANI