Hundreds Throw Cow Dung At Each Other As Diwali Wraps Up In This Village

The Gorehabba festival begins with the afternoon collection of "ammunition" from cow-owning homes in the village, which lies on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Joyful crowds pelted each other with fistfuls of cow manure this weekend as part of one village's local ritual to mark the end of Diwali festival.

Similar to Spain's "La Tomatina" -- the eccentric tomato-hurling celebration of the local fruit -- residents of Gumatapura instead fling snowball-sized wads of cow dung.

The Gorehabba festival begins with the afternoon collection of "ammunition" from cow-owning homes in the village, which lies on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The manure is brought to the local temple on tractor trolleys, before a priest performs a blessing ritual.