EASTER Sunday is a day of celebration for millions of Christians around the world but this year it falls on the same date as the global cannabis festival.

The festival, referred to as 420, brings together cannabis smokers and activists who want the drug to be legalised.

There are various urban legends that have grown up around the meaning of “420” and its connection with marijuana, however the 4/20 celebrations origins appear to lie in the escapades of a group of friends from San Rafael high school, northern California, in 1971.

The small group of hippie stoners used to meet at a designated location every day to smoke weed at 4:20 p.m. They did this so regularly that among members of the group (known as “the Waldos”) the expression 420 became a general euphemism for ‘time to light up.’