THOUSANDS of Sikhs will join the traditional procession through the streets of Southampton this weekend as they celebrate their new year.

The festival of Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year, will be celebrated in Southampton on Sunday with a number of events.

The festivities will begin at the Civic Centre at 9.30am with the Raising of the Nishan Sahib, the traditional flag-raising ceremony.

This will be followed by the Nagar Kirtan, (the procession) which starts and concludes from the Sri Guru Ravidass Sabha Gurdwara in the city.

The Nagar Kirtan will start promptly at 1pm and the procession will include music from Indian drums known as the dhol as well as singing and chanting as it makes it way past the Sri Guru Ravidass Sabha Gurdwara, the Gurdwara Tegh Bahadur Sahib and the Gurdwara Nanaksar before returning back to the Cranbury Avenue temple.

Everyone is welcome to attend the celebrations but people are asked to respect the Sikh faith.

Children should be accompanied by an adult, people should cover their heads at all times and not consume any form of tobacco or alcohol as a sign of respect for the Sikh Holy Book, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

The celebrations have been organised by the Council of Southampton Gurdwaras in partnership with the local Sikh community of Southampton to mark the 308th anniversary of the festival.

John Singh Roath, of the Council of Southampton Gurdwaras, said: "We are expecting about 10,000 people on Sunday to celebrate Vaisakhi.

"We have been doing this for the past 17 years and for the people of Southampton it is like a mini pilgrimage.

"We will be escorting our holy book the Guru Granth Sahib through the streets of Southampton via the four main temples in the city, which is really important for people who can't go out to India.''