Lathmar Holi

A week before the rest of India throws colored powder for Holi, the twin villages of Barsana and Nandgaon act out a much older, much funnier ritual: men from Nandgaon march over to Barsana to be playfully - and enthusiastically - beaten back with wooden sticks by the local women, re-enacting a legend about the god Krishna's teasing courtship of Radha. It's boisterous, good-natured chaos with real devotional roots underneath.