Mathura - Holi
Holi, the festival of colors has been started with a great deal and enthusiasm throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. But differences mark the way in which they are celebrated. The small town of Barsana located at a distance of about 42 km from Mathura Barsana, the birth place of Radha, Lord Krishna’s beloved attracts a large number of visitors each year when it celebrates Holi.Holi, the festival of colors, is a colorful Hindu celebration on arrival spring and falls on the day after full moon annually in March.Holi is well known, the Huranga festivities at the Dauji Temple near Mathura is less famous. Celebrated a day after Holi, the Huranga festival witnesses a rather strange ritual. Soon after the morning darshan, around 10,000 devotees from Baldev and neighbouring villages gather in the temple courtyard. The two hours that follow see the temple compound into a battleground. Men pour buckets of saffron-tinged water on women, who retaliate by tearing their shirts off and thrashing them with it. Essentially a game between devar and bhabhi, the idea is to give the women a chance to get back at men for all the pranks they have played during the year..
