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"Happy Holi": India celebrates the Hindu spring festival Holi - and this man uses his mask to ensure that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears at the traditional color battle on March 25th in Varanasi.

Photo: Niharika Kulkarni / AFP

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Forget everyday life and throw colored powder and water balloons at others: This is how people celebrate the spring festival in India - in the middle of the street, in temples, party locations or, as here in Calcutta, in front of a shrine.

Photo: Dipa Chakraborty / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO

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The air is full of color: Schools and offices will remain closed across the country on the important holiday.

Photo: Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP

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A dream in pink and purple: Holi is considered a festival on which India's otherwise rigid norms of separation based on religion, caste, gender, age and status are briefly softened. Everyone puts paint on each other's faces - whether family, friends, neighbors or even strangers.

Photo: R.satish Babu / AFP

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Good wins: Holi is a festival of beginnings and the triumph of good over evil - the meaning is traced back to Hindu myths. The name Holi comes from the demon Holika. She wanted to kill her nephew, a follower of the Hindu god Vishnu - and died in the process, while he survived because of his religious devotion.

Photo: Dipa Chakraborty / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO

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Joy of colors: The color battle also has a religious background. According to the story, God Krishna was afraid that his appearance would get in the way of his relationship with his beloved Radha. For his skin was blue and she was white. His mother suggested him to paint Radha's face too - which he did. In commemoration of this, Holi is also a festival of love.

Photo: Niharika Kulkarni / AFP

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It's raining powder: But it's obviously not healthy at all. At least the German Federal Environment Agency is concerned with Holi. The color powder contains fine dust that settles on the skin and is inhaled.

Photo: Ajit Solanki / AP

sun/dpa