Rangoli, also known as kolam or Muggu, is a folk art from India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. It is usually made during Diwali, Onam, Pongal and other Indian festivals. They are meant to be sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities. The ancient symbols have been passed down through the ages, from each generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive. Similar practices are followed in different Indian states: in Tamil Nadu, there is Kolam in Tamil Nadu; Mandana in Rajasthan; Chaookpurna in Chhattisgarh; Alpana in West Bengal; Aripana in Bihar; Chowk pujan in Uttar Pradesh; Muggu in Andhra Pradesh and others.

In this January 31, 2014 file photo released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria. That year, the U.N. was able to deliver food to about five percent of people in besieged areas including Yarmouk, while today estimates show the organization is reaching less than one percent. (Photo by UNRWA via AP Photo)

Students from CAS Ballet Theatre School stretch on the sidewalk Saturday, February 20, 2016, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Photo by Junfu Han/The Ann Arbor News via AP Photo)

Revelers jump on a rainbow painted crosswalk in Church Street, Toronto's LGBT neighbourhood, before “WorldPride”, a gay pride parade, in Toronto, June 29, 2014. Toronto is hosting WorldPride, a week-long event that celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Reuters)

A man pours mud water on the head of his girl friend during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, South Korea, Friday, July 18, 2014. The annual mud festival features mud wrestling and mud sliding. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

A woman wearing a kimono performs an uchimizu ritual outside a pachinko game parlor in Tokyo June 30, 2015. The splashing of water onto the hot asphalt in summer is an old Japanese tradition meant to cool down the air as the water evaporates. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Traders try to control a camel at Pushkar Fair where animals, mainly camels, are brought to be sold and traded in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan November 6, 2016. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters)

A Black Pete interacts with children during the arrival of Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, in Maassluis, Netherlands, Saturday, November 12, 2016. Sinterklaas and his helper Black Pete are at the center of a long-time controversy because Pete is often played by white people in blackface makeup. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)