Cairo, April 9 : Amid gaiety and cheerful music, hundreds of Egyptians and foreigners celebrated on Friday the annual Holi festival that was sponsored by the Indian embassy in Cairo.

The playing field of Cairo Sporting Club was decorated with vibrant rainbow colours when people splashed colours on each other, celebrating the Egyptian version of Holi, Xinhua reported.

"I came with my friends to enjoy the festival of colours. I am a fan of the Indian culture and this event is really joyful," said Noha Hassan, a college student from Cairo, as brilliant colours covered her face and clothes.

Hassan, who was dressed in an orange and brown traditional Sari garment, said colours can change the mood of people as the bright ones fill the atmosphere with positive energies.

"Colours symbolise nature … our life and the conditions in Egypt have been a bit gloomy recently, such events can give us hope and stamina," Hassan added as they reacted to the beats of the Indian music played during the event.

In recent years the festival has spread to Europe, North America and the Middle East as a spring celebration of love and frolic.

Most of the attendees here were young Egyptians with quite a good number of foreigners, mainly Indians.

"The event is very outstanding and it is really nice… I love the smiles on the faces of the people who came to celebrate the festival," an Indian businessman who lives in Cairo said.

He hoped that more such events would be held in Egypt and help promote tourism which has been suffering in recent years due to the unstable political and security conditions in the Middle Eastern country. (IANS)