MORE than 200 revellers enjoyed a colourful celebration of Indian culture at Firstsite gallery in Colchester.

The East Anglian Indian Association hosted its annual Holi Festival celebration at the Lewis Gardens venue on Saturday.

Known as the festival of colours, the event featured a mix of food, music and dance as well as the famous coloured paint.

Satish Thaker, chairman of the East Anglian Indian Association, said: "We host the event every year and for the last two years it has been at Firstsite.

"It is a very good venue because it is so close to the town centre.

"We have powder colour which people buy and throw on each other. There are also traditional food stalls.

"A group of children performed a play for crowds. There was dancing and we played Bollywood and Bhangra music."

Holi is an ancient Hindu festival, similar to the celebration of harvest in Christian culture.

Mr Thaker said: "We see it as a time when people can forget all the stresses of life and become joyful for a day.

"We had between 200 and 250 people come along throughout the day.

"It was a very good day for us and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We will definitely be back next year."