Festival goers in northern India used ashes from human cremations to celebrate Holi, a major Hindu holiday.

Hundreds of local people from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, gathered on March 6 by the Manikarnika Ghat, a site sometimes used for Hindu cremations, to throw ashes mixed with coloured dust at each other in a festival game.

Traditionally, the festivity begins at the noon and continues till evening. After performing religious rituals, the people dance and perform music at the makeshift stage amid the burning pyres.

The strange ritual is an ancient tradition in the city and is seen as a means of celebrating death and attaining salvation.

The Mashaan Holi is played with color mixed with ash from dead bodies that were cremated at the cremation grounds of Varanasi. It happens only in Banaras, where death is not something to fear about and dying here means attaining 'moksha' (salvation). Traditionally at Manikarnika Ghat, the 'mahashmashan' where Hindus cremate the dead, local people play Holi with ash on the next day of Rangbhari Ekadashi, a Banarasi tradition that is believed as old as the Ganga itself. For an outsider, it may be unusual to see people throwing pyre ash at each other and smearing it on face and body at the cremation ghat, but for locals, there is nothing surprising in the tradition. Traditionally, the festivity begins at the noon and continues till evening. After performing religious rituals, they present dance and music at the makeshift stage amid the burning pyres in respect of the lord of the cremation ground.

This festival is celebrated on the very next day of Rangabhari Ekadashi. Keeping up the unique tradition, local devout on Friday assembled at Manikarnika Ghat here and smeared each other with the ash of pyres and 'gulal' (dry color) on each other amid burning pyres to celebrate Holi. It is an age-old tradition of celebrating death with the hope of attaining 'moksha' (salvation). The Holi celebrations began in the afternoon and continued till sunset with people at Manikarnika ghat echoed with Har-Har Mahadev.