The Hindu Holi Festival has been celebrated around the globe this week, with events also taking place closer to home this weekend.
The traditional festival marks the arrival of spring and the end of winter for people of the Hindu, Sikh and Jainism religions, with the celebrations taking many different forms depending on people's preferences.
It is celebrated across India and is used to celebrate life and the beginning of a new season. For Hindus, it celebrates the love of Radha Krishna and triumph, whilst also being an opportunity for families to get together.
The main way which Holi is celebrated involves a two day event, with the first night involving lighting bonfires and the second day involving going into the streets for paint throwing and other fun activities.
One of the main visuals of the Holi Festival is the paint or colour throwing, which originally comes from the story of Krishna throwing coloured water over his milkmaids when he was a boy. This fable eventually grew into the main tradition that Holi is known for.
In the North East, there are two main celebrations where people can get involved, one in Gateshead and one in Durham.
The first is the Holi Festival of Colours at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art on Saturday March 11. The Baltic will host indoor celebrations from 12pm, including artists' workshops, dance, music and food and the day will then culminate in the colour throwing finale at 3pm.
Free tickets are available from the Baltic website here, and the only things they are asking of attendees is to not bring any coloured pigment and paint of their own, and to wear clothes they don't mind getting dirty, as the paint throwing can get very messy.
The second event is the Holi Festival at the Oriental Museum at Durham University on Saturday March 11, where the spring season will be welcomed in by the University.
Due to the weather forecast, the planned colour throwing won't take place but there will still be music, dancing, art activities, face painting and much more inside the museum from 12 pm until 5 pm. Tickets are available on the website here.
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