Photos of revelers celebrating Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in India's Mathura

MATHURA, India (AP) — Holi celebrations in the north Indian town of Mathura filled the air with music, dance, and clouds of colored powder.

Hundreds of men and women gathered at a temple in the north Indian town of Mathura, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna, one of the most revered Hindu gods with whom this festival is closely associated, to celebrate the festival marking the arrival of spring.

Their faces smeared with colored powder and their wet clothes hanging to their bodies, they swayed to the rhythm of beating music. Holi colors represent spring's bounty and the festival is seen as a time to forget old grudges and renew friendships.

On a large stage behind the revelers, folk actors recreated scenes from Krishna’s life and his playful flirting with his consort Radha.

The dark-skinned god is believed to have smeared color on Radha’s fair cheeks to make her look more like him, setting off a tradition in which people smear colors on each other’s cheeks to mark the festival of colors. The divine couple is a favorite subject of the traditional Indian miniature paintings.

Actors then gear up to play another Radha-Krishna episode to the delight of the merry crowd.

In Mathura and other places linked to Krishna’s life, the celebrations last for several days, but March 4 marks the main day of Holi and festivities spread across the country.

A member of a band accompanying a Holi festival procession plays a brass instrument in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Revelers dance under colored water and powder sprayed from above at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex during Holi festival celebrations in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Revelers dance in a street during a procession celebrating the Holi festival in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A member of transgender community dances during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A member of transgender community shoos away revelers as she dances during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Revelers play drums at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex during Holi festival celebrations in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Artists dressed as the Hindu deities Lord Krishna and Radha throw flower petals during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Members of transgender community dance during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Devotees smear each other with gulal, or colored powder at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex during Holi festival celebrations in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Revelers dance under colored water and powder sprayed from above at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex during Holi festival celebrations in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A member of transgender community with other women devotees symbolically beat men with wooden sticks to mark Lathmar Holi during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Devotees smeared with colors watch artists perform during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Artists dressed as the Hindu deities Lord Krishna and Radha throw flower petals during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A transgender person participates along with others during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Women devotees symbolically beat men with wooden sticks to mark Lathmar Holi during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A member of transgender community dances during Holi festival celebrations at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Children watch as revelers dance under colored water and powder sprayed from above at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex during Holi festival celebrations in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Devotees dance and sing during Holi festival celebrations as colored water is sprayed from above at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple complex in Mathura, India, on Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for California schools to tell parents if their children identify as transgender without getting the student's approval, granting an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group.

The order blocks for now a state law that bans automatic parental notification requirements if students change their pronouns or gender expression at school.

The split decision comes after religious parents and educators challenged California school policies aimed at preventing schools from outing students to their families. Two sets of Catholic parents represented by the Thomas More Society say it caused schools to mislead them and secretly facilitate the children's social transition despite their objections.

California, on the other hand, argued that students have the right to privacy about their gender expression, especially if they fear rejection from their families. The state said that school policies and state law are aimed at striking a balance with parents’ rights.

The high court majority, though, sided with the parents and reinstated a lower-court order blocking the law and school policies while the case continues to play out.

“The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs. California’s policies violate those beliefs,” and burden the free exercise of religion, the majority wrote in an unsigned order.

The court's three liberal justices publicly dissented, saying the case is still working its way through lower courts and there was no need to step in now. “If nothing else, this Court owes it to a sovereign State to avoid throwing over its policies in a slapdash way, if the Court can provide normal procedures. And throwing over a State’s policy is what the Court does today,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, noted they would have gone further and granted teachers' appeal to lift restrictions for them.

The Thomas More Society called the decision “the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office defended the law, saying teachers should be focused on instruction, not required “to be gender cops.”

The order “undermines student privacy and the ability to learn in a safe and supportive classroom, free from discrimination based on gender identity,” said Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the Democratic governor.

The Supreme Court has ruled for religious plaintiffs in other recent cases, including allowing parents to pull their children from public-school lessons if they object to storybooks with LGBTQ+ characters.

The California order comes months after the court upheld state bans on gender-identity-related healthcare for minors. The justices also seem to be leaning toward allowing states to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls sports teams.

School policies for transgender students, meanwhile, have also been on the court’s radar in other cases.

The court rebuffed another similar case out of Wisconsin in December, but three conservative justices indicated they would have heard the case. Justice Samuel Alito called the school policies “an issue of great and growing national importance.”

The Trump administration, meanwhile, found in January that California's policies violated parents' right to access their children's education records. The Justice Department also sued after determining the states' transgender athlete policies violate federal civil rights law.

FILE - The Supreme Court is photographed, Feb. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)