Hundreds of people turned out at Leicester’s Spinney Hill Park, for the Holi festival of colours – a vibrant celebration of spring, rebirth and love.
Also known as the ‘festival of love’ and the ‘festival of spring’, Holi is celebrated in many South Asian Hindu communities across the world.
This year Holi, will fall on Wednesday (March 8). However, celebrations took place across Leicester yesterday (Monday, March 6), including at the city’s Spinney Hill Park, Cossington Recreation Ground and Ellis Park, Oadby.
The joyous events attracted hundreds of festival goers, who engaged in the tradition of throwing brightly coloured paint powder at one another.
Large bonfires were also lit, and many got involved in the ritual of throwing grains, popcorn, coconut and chickpeas into the fire.
Speaking at Spinney Hill Park, organiser Shital Adatia, explained: “People don’t mind having colour thrown on them, they take it in a gesture of good will and everyone’s loving it.
“Holi is the celebration to introduce spring, it’s love over evil and it’s celebrated with colours and love. The event brings people together, and we’ve been doing it at Spinney Hill Park for over 25 years. As you can see we’ve had a phenomenal turn out today,” he added.
Alongside Diwali, Holi is one of the biggest and most popular festivals on the Hindu calendar.
“It’s just great – it’s just fun isn’t it?” one festival goer told the Leicester Times.
“It’s brought everyone out and it’s just a nice festival to do.
“Leicester is a great place to be. I’ve lived here all my life and it’s multicultural, everyone seems to get on, and I can’t fault it – I can’t fault it at all,” he added.
