One very important festival celebrated in March with lot of pomp and color in the state of Uttar Pradesh is the festival of “Lathmar Holi” .

Celebrated at the birthplace of Lord Krishna at barsana, which is at a distance of 48 km from Mathura, this festival holds lot of relevance.

The legend behind this festival is that Lord Krishna was dark in color whereas radha was a beautiful fair girl. Surprised at this color difference Lord Krishna kept questioning his mother about it. Out of sheer frustration his mother one day told him that he could change Radha’s skin tone by coloring her. Keeping this in mind Lord Krishna and his friends went to barsana where radha stayed and colored Radha and her friends. Angry at their behaviour radha and her friends chased them with “Lathis” which mean bamboo sticks.

This tradition is followed until today in the districts of Nandgaon and barsana, where young men pretend to be gopis and come and color the young girls, while the young girls along with their friends pretend to be gopikas and chase the young men with lathis.

A colorful event it is a joy to celebrate holi in barsana, which is celebrated in a different style in Uttar pradesh, unlike other parts of the country.