The streets of Mathura and Vrindavan in the state of Uttar Pradesh are buzzing with pre-Holi revelry as people begin their celebrations with the Lathmar ceremony in which women hit men with sticks while men defend themselves with a shield.
Several videos are doing the rounds on the internet in which men can be seen sitting holding a shield above their head while women continue to strike it with a baton.
Each year at the time of Holi men living in Nandagaon - which according to legend is where Lord Krishna lived for nine years and 50 days with his foster father Nanda Baba and his mother Yashoda - visit Barsana (where Krishna's consort, the Hindu goddess Radha lived), and protect themselves from the women's blows with a shield.
Dancing to the chants of Lord Krishna and Holi songs, hundreds of widows wearing white saris ring in the festival on Tuesday by throwing flower petals and colours at each other. The point of the festival is to defy the age-old social stigma whereby a widow is not supposed to dress in gaudy colours after her husband has died.
Holi - the festival of colours - falls on 18 March but in the run-up to the celebration people in the cities and towns of Uttar Pradesh will have already been running riot, covering their neighbourhood in bright colours.
Lathmar Holi is a celebration based on a legend about Lord Krishna who wanted to spray his beloved Radha and her friends with "gulal" (dry colour powder) on Holi day to tease them. Instead, Radha playfully drove Lord Krishna away by hitting him with sticks. Since then, each year before Holi, Lathmar Holi is celebrated.