AP PHOTOS: Colors come out as Hindus celebrate Holi festival

NEW DELHI – Winter ends, spring arrives and the colors come out.

Across India and Nepal, millions of Hindus are celebrating Holi, the joyous festival of color, smearing one another with colored powder and spraying each other with squirt guns.

The two-day festival of Holi is mainly celebrated on Friday this year, but has countless variants and traditions, and some festivals began days ago. By Thursday afternoon, it was easy to find office workers in central New Delhi with their faces smeared red and yellow.

While its roots are religious, tied in many ways to the god Krishna, Holi is also seen as a celebration of good versus evil, and of a good harvest.