LOS ANGELES, March 4 (UPI) -- Hindus, Sikhs and some Muslims around the world are celebrating the colorful holiday of Holi.
The holiday commemorates the death of Holika, who represents evil, who saved her nephew Prehlad, who represents good, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Holi celebrations are always full of color, in the form of powder and paint with which revelers adorn themselves and others, the Times said.
"One of the things that Holi lets you do is let loose," Vinay Lal, a professor of history and Asian American studies at UCLA, told the Times. "Holi is something anybody can take part in because you do not need anything, just water and color. You can go to the home of an upper-caste person and throw water at them and rub color on them. But the following day, everything reverts back to normal."
The holiday is celebrated on the full moon in the Hindu month of Falgun and usually falls in March, the Times reported.
In Los Angeles, Mumbai native and Northridge, Calif., resident Manish Kheman, 24, said he was pleasantly surprised by the Holi celebration in a city park.
"It's different," he said, "Holi is much more intense in India -- more water, more colors, water balloons."
