Google Doodle celebrates Holi 2017 with a joyful cloud of colours

Google Doodle celebrates Holi, the Hindu spring festival, with a splash of colour as animated figures throw purple, blue, yellow, green and red paint at the letters.

"Amid the cloud of red, blue, yellow, green and everything in between, festival-goers can often be found laughing, singing and dancing in the streets," Google said.

The festival of colours was being celebrated yesterday and today (12 and 13 March) with the full moon in the Hindu calender month of Fagun. The first day is called Chhoti Holi.

The festival takes place mainly in India and Nepal but is marked in a number of Hindu communities throughout the world.

Traditionally, celebrants light a bonfire in the evening to symbolise the Holika Dahan, a story stemming from Hindu mythology.

On the second day, Hindus splash each other with coloured powder in a tradition signifying the colour-play between the Hindu god Lord Krishna and the gopis, a group of cow-herding girls who are devoted to him.

According to some, throwing coloured powder during the festival comes from the legend that Krishna, whose skin was blue, was worried that he would not be accepted by Radha, his love, so he coloured her face blue.

Throwing coloured powder on Holi merrymakers celebrates Krishna and Radha's love, which overcames age, social status ... and colour. The powder also signifies the coming of spring.

Red depicts love and fertility, blue is the colour of Krishna, yellow the colour of turmeric, and green reflects spring and new beginnings for all.