Vaisakhi procession, Southall
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Vaisakhi procession, Southall by Hugh Chevallier as part of the Geograph project.
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Vaisakhi procession, Southall
Image: © Hugh Chevallier Taken: 10 Apr 2011
Vaisakhi is the Sikh new year; however, its history stretches back beyond Sikhism, and has its roots in a harvest festival celebration. The festival is celebrated on April 13 or 14. In the UK, a large-scale procession is held in Southall on either the Sunday preceding or following. In 2011, the parade was held on Sunday April 10. The weather was perfect and attendance high. Some estimated the crowds at 50,000 or more. Traditionally, every visitor is given food and drink, and as one nears the procession route, Sikhs shower everyone with free bottles of water, packets of crisps, various curries and Indian sweets. Despite the numbers, the atmosphere, in my experience, is uniformly friendly. The predominant colour is orange: the flag of Sikhism is a blue symbol on an orange background, and it lends a vibrant air to this part of west London. This photograph shows a couple of Sikh warriors from the procession holding their ceremonial swords.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.508948
Longitude
-0.376588