Christchurch’s annual Indian Holi Festival of Colours brightened up Hagley Park for the seventh time last weekend and brought almost 12,000 people together.

A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety.

The Canterbury Indian Tamil Association (CITA), which aims to help and support the Tamil community in the Canterbury region and also promote and bring awareness of the Tamil language and wider Indian culture, celebrated the Pongal festival last weekend.

The Canterbury Tamil Society (CTS) which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, celebrated the Thai Pongal festival last weekend.

Affiliated to the Arya Samaj Pratinidhi Sabha New Zealand Incorporated, Arya Samaj Christchurch (ASC) organised its Annual Gayatri Maha-Yaj last weekend. Formed in 2006, the organisation is known for its monthly satsangs, but the Maha-Yaj is its flagship event of the year, where devotees perform a havan accompanied by the chants of the gayatri mantra, which is followed by a light meal for all devotees.

The two social organizations, which promote and celebrate Malayali culture in the Garden City – Kerala Cultural Forum (KCF) and Christchurch Kerala Association (CKA) organised their Christmas celebrations in December.

On Sunday, Christchurch residents were treated to city’s annual Santa Parade, which saw around 135 floats, and over 2,500 performers.

The Day commemorates the listing of Hindi as the official language of India along with English, which happened on September 14, 1949. It also marks the efforts put in by successive Indian governments over the years to promote the language as the symbol of Indian unity.