Being hit by sticks while dressed up as a woman and being forced to dance in public doesn’t exactly sound like everyone’s cup of tea.
But during the festival of Lathmar Holi in Barsana, India, that’s exactly what thousands of revellers get up to in the lead up to the full Hindu festival.
Lathmar Holi, which translates to ‘the festival of sticks and colours’, is the recreation of a famous Hindu legend involving Lord Khrisna who came from Nandgaon village.
Lord Krishna is said to have visited Barsana and teased his beloved Radha by flirting with her friends before they turned on him and kicked him out of the village.
Every year men from Nandgaon village recreate the legend by returning to Barsana to be chased away or captured by women who dress them up in female clothing and force them to dance.
The following day women from Barsana travel to Nandgaon where men drench them in colour in revenge.
