Festival of Colors: Utah Holi Celebration Attracts 80k [VIDEO]

Holi in Utah — People throw colored powder during Holi, the festival of colors, at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah. (REUTERS/Jim Urquhart)

People throw colored powder during Holi, the festival of colors, at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah. (REUTERS/Jim Urquhart)

Nearly 80,000 people from across the United States and beyond gathered in Spanish Fork, Utah this past weekend to celebrate the Festival of Colors - a tribute to India's Holi celebration that was captured in a viral video uploaded on Monday by filmmaker Devin Graham.

The air in Spanish Fork was thick with clouds of color - a telltale sign that Holi had arrived. Each year thousands converge at the grounds of Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple to celebrate the arrival of spring with a massive powder fight, decorating each other in bright hues.

For some it's a spiritual event, but for others it is a source of curiosity. The festival has its roots in Hindu mythology. It's said that the darker-skinned Krishna was jealous of the fair-skinned Radha and pestered his foster mother Yashodha about it so much that she told him he could change Radha's skin by sprinkling her with colors.

Thus each year Holi revelers hurl neon powder (gulal) and colored water into the air, tie-dying participants into spirographs of color. The colors are said to represent energy, life, joy, and the coming of spring.

Officially, revelers throw powders at the Spanish Fork, Utah celebration in mass every two hours. Unofficially, they're thrown at will throughout the festival.

Charu Das (formerly Christopher Warden) is the founder of the massive Hare Krishna temple that sits in the most unlikely of spots - suburban Provo, home to Brigham Young University. It's an area that Das says is ninety percent Mormon.

I don't think anyone's more delighted about [the festival] than most of the Mormon people, Das told CNN. They just love the presence of the temple. Our reward is to see thousands and thousands of people chanting the names of god without consideration of religion or race or doctrine or dogma.

Check out footage of the 2012 Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork, Utah below.