While there are many theories on the colorful origins of Holi , the modern interpretations of this festival honor Hindu legends while helping locals say goodbye to winter and welcome spring – the season of love and color.

The colorful pigments flying through the air during Holi have become associated with act as an equalizer in a society long ruled by the caste system. Daily life and and all its strife are suspended, all distinctions of age, gender and class are put aside, and no one person is of more value or more beautiful than another. Certainly sounds similar to the ideals of many modern festivals we know and love.

In the midst of the fast-paced paint flinging, you might take a moment to stop, absorb the surrealistic canvas that the world around you has become, appreciate the spectrum of colors that coat your skin and clothes, the ground, the buildings around you, the rainbow clouds that hang thick in the air. For a moment, if you're lucky, time will slow to a stop, and class divisions may be cast aside. For a moment, there is only life, and color, and light.

And as this stunning video by Variable shows, for a moment, there is only Holi.