People Celebrate Holi With Enthusiasm And Spirit of Bonhomie | See PHOTOS

Holi 2023: Holi was celebrated in Punjab, Haryana and their common capital Chandigarh with traditional fervour and gaiety as people smeared 'gulal', threw balloons filled with colours on each other and exchanged sweets.

Holi 2023 Celebrations in PHOTOS: Colours of all hues and the smell of ‘gulal’ pervaded streets of India as people of all ages celebrated Holi across the country with enthusiasm and spirit of bonhomie on Wednesday. Starting from Punjab and Haryana to Rajasthan, people of all communities came together to celebrate the festival of colours.

Holi in Punjab, Haryana

Holi was celebrated in Punjab, Haryana and their common capital Chandigarh with traditional fervour and gaiety as people smeared ‘gulal’, threw balloons filled with colours on each other and exchanged sweets.

People visited friends and relatives, and gifted gujias’ (a traditional sweet) besides smearing ‘gulal’ (colour powder) on each other’s faces. Some hotels and resorts had organised rain dance parties with snacks and buffets.

Holi in Uttar Pradesh

Twenty quintals of ‘tesu’ flowers and 50 quintals of ‘gulal’ of varied hues were stocked at Dauji temple in Baldeo region of Uttar Pradesh to celebrate a unique Holi played by ‘bhabhis’ and ‘devars’ — sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law.

In the celebration, womenfolk representing ‘bhabhis’ and “brothers-in-law” play what is locally called “Huranga”. The women lash the men with wet cotton cloth.

Before ‘Huranga’ begins, devotional music is played before the deity for an hour to seek permission to carry on with the festival, the priest said.

Holi in Rajasthan

Not just Indians, but foreign nationals also celebrated Holi in Pushkar of Ajmer district and in Jaipur, where the tourism department organised an event after a gap of almost two years to mark the festival of colours.

At the Holi event organised by the tourism department at Khasakothi, domestic and foreign tourists played with colours and ‘gulal’, and danced to the beats of traditional Rajasthani tunes.

Delegations of various organisations and common people met with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Jaipur and wished him on the occasion. The chief minister too congratulated them.