Puri, July 18: If devotees here are soaking in the festive spirit of rath yatra, how can those living abroad be far behind!

While many hosted it on Saturday itself, some of them are going to organise the festival on Sunday.

And those who could not make it to Puri to witness the grand festival unfold before their eyes can watch the webcast of the event on various sites that streamed the visuals of the Puri rath yatra.

In the USA, some temples hosted the festival today while many will celebrate rath yatra on Sunday.

"Since our community members and followers of Jagannath from non-Odia communities are busy on week days, we usually observe the festival on a weekend," said Sourya Mohapatra, a member of the Odia Society of Americas. "But since this year rath fell on a weekend, people will celebrate it on Saturday or Sunday and it will be great since it will be closer to the real date this year," he said.

California-based Sunnyvale temple hosted the event on Saturday after the chariots were pulled in Puri.

The temple in Michigan will, however, conduct the event on Sunday just like the oldest temple of the US located in Tennessee.

Indian Community of Edogawa in Tokyo hosted chariot pulling earlier this week on July 11 and the Odia community in London observed the event in June.

Those who could not attend the chariot pulling or witness it live had the option of watching the proceedings online. While the state government had arranged the webcast on nabakalebara.gov.in, some private groups such as fullodisha.com streamed the event live.

Moreover, the Wi-fi facility available on the Grand Road and adjacent area helped those who avoided the crowd to watch the event online.