--- title: Holi Festival 2017: See Images of Color From India description: The Hindu festival of Holi is an annual holiday that marks the start of spring and celebrates the triumph of good over evil canonical: https://time.com/4697154/holi-festival-of-color-photos/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-09T23:12:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:49:25.355Z article:section: World og:title: See Incredible Images of Color From India's Holi Festival og:description: The celebration marks the beginning of spring og:url: https://time.com/4697154/holi-festival-of-color-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ae73815b42ca82c/6988bdcba988ca1c3e6bb4f6/holi-9.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: holi-9 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Incredible Images of Color From India's Holi Festival twitter:description: The celebration marks the beginning of spring twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ae73815b42ca82c/6988bdcba988ca1c3e6bb4f6/holi-9.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Incredible Images of Color From India's Holi Festival by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) and [Javier Sirvent](/author/javier-sirvent/) Mar 9, 2017 11:12 PM CUT  Locals and Indian Hindu widows throw flower petals and colored powder during Holi celebrations at the Gopinath temple, south-east of New Delhi, on March 21, 2016. Locals and Indian Hindu widows throw flower petals and colored powder during Holi celebrations at the Gopinath temple, south-east of New Delhi, on March 21, 2016.Manish Swarup—AP by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) and [Javier Sirvent](/author/javier-sirvent/) Mar 9, 2017 11:12 PM CUT The [Hindu festival of Holi](http://time.com/4696979/holi-hindu-holiday-india-nepal/ "undefined") is an annual holiday that marks the start of spring and celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Also called the Festival of Colors, the celebration dates back to the 7th century Sanskrit drama, _Ratnaval_, according to the [BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/holi%5F1.shtml "undefined"). The festival is known for people throwing colored powder and dye into the air and smearing each other with paint. It also includes a [playful rivalry](http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/why-is-lathmar-holi-celebrated-in-barsana-and-nandgaon/1/624875.html "undefined") between genders, as women from Barsana, [India](http://time.com/4671532/india-space-launch-satellites-modi/ "undefined") — said to be the birthplace of the [Hindu](http://time.com/4203811/india-delhi-court-karta-hindu-family-ruling/ "undefined") God Krishna’s lover Radha — beat men from Nandgaon, a town associated with Krishna’s childhood, with wooden sticks. See these colorful photos from Holi celebrations in India. This year’s festival takes place March 12 and 13.  Locals and Indian Hindu widows throw flower petals and colored powder during Holi celebrations at the Gopinath temple, south-east of New Delhi, on March 21, 2016. Manish Swarup—AP  Hindu men from the village of Barsana throw colored water on the villagers of Nandgaon from the roof of the Ladali or Radha temple before the procession for the Lathmar Holi festival in Barsana, on Feb. 27, 2015. Saurabh Das—AP  Hindu devotees play with colour during Holi celebrations at the Banke Bihari temple on March 27, 2013 in Vrindavan, India. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images  Hindu devotees pray and face a deity as colored powder is thrown on them while celebrating "Holi," the festival of color, crowd at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan, on March 7, 2012. Kevin Frayer—AP  An Indian reveler covered in colored powder sits inside a temple as he and other prays during the Lathmar Holi celebrations in the village of Barsana, on March 17, 2016. Chandan Khanna—AFP/Getty Images  A Hindu priest throws coloured powder at devotees during Holi festival, at the Banke Bihari temple, on March 3, 2013. Atid Kiattisaksiri—Getty Images  An Indian widow dressed as a consort of Lord Krishna walks as others throw flowers during Holi celebrations in Vrindavan, on March 24, 2013. Kevin Frayer—AP  Indian Hindu widows and others play with colored powder as part of Holi celebrations at the Meera Sahabhagini Widow Ashram in Vrindavan, on March 3, 2015. Tsering Topgyal—AP  Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.  An Indian devotee rests his forehead in an act of respect on the wall of the Banke Bihari temple during Holi celebrations in Vrindavan, India, on March 27, 2013. Altaf Qadri—AP  A Hindu devotee, face smeared with colored powder, leaves the Banke Bihari temple during Holi celebrations in Vrindavan, on, March 27, 2013. Altaf Qadri—AP ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4697154/holi-festival-of-color-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4697154/holi-festival-of-color-photos/"},"headline":"See Incredible Images of Color From India's Holi Festival","datePublished":"2017-03-09T23:12:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:49:25.355Z","description":"The celebration marks the beginning of spring","url":"https://time.com/4697154/holi-festival-of-color-photos/","keywords":["India","photography","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ae73815b42ca82c/6988bdcba988ca1c3e6bb4f6/holi-9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Javier Sirvent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/javier-sirvent/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ae73815b42ca82c/6988bdcba988ca1c3e6bb4f6/holi-9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"holi-9","caption":"Locals and Indian Hindu widows throw flower petals and colored powder during Holi celebrations at the Gopinath temple, south-east of New Delhi, on March 21, 2016.","creditText":"Manish Swarup—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4697154/holi-festival-of-color-photos/","name":"See Incredible Images of Color From India's Holi Festival"}}]}] ```