Varanasi's 'Bhasma Holi' where Lord Shiva devotees play with ashes of the dead

'Bhasma (ash) Holi' is celebrated every year on the eleventh lunar day of each of the two lunar phases. It is believed that on this day Lord Shiva visits the Manikarnika ghat and plays Holi alongside funeral pyres along with ghosts, spirits, and invisible energies.

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): While most of us associate the Hindu festival of Holi with colours, not many are aware of a unique festival that is observed at the Manikarnika cremation ghat in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi wherein devotees of Lord Shiva play Holi with ashes of the dead.

'Bhasma (ash) Holi' is celebrated every year on the eleventh lunar day of each of the two lunar phases. It is believed that on this day Lord Shiva visits the Manikarnika ghat and plays Holi alongside funeral pyres along with ghosts, spirits, and invisible energies.

Ardent followers of Lord Shiva, including ascetics and saints, gather at the ghat and commence the festival by offering prayer to the Hindu god before presenting him with bhang (seeds and leaves of cannabis). The devotees then collect 'bhasm' or ash from the burnt funeral pyres and smear it on each other, apart from throwing it in the air, leaving the entire ghat enveloped in a layer of ash.

The gathering also celebrates by dancing on folk songs while chanting "khele masane mein Holi digamber, khele masane mein Holi."

The celebrations are in complete to the grief, pain, and sense of loss visible on the faces of those present at the ghat to perform the last rites of their loved oness.