Bradford's Sikh communities are staging a march around the city to mark the most important day in their calendar - Vaisakhi.

On Easter Monday a procession of about 5,000 men, women and children will start their walk to each of the city's six temples and to Centenary Square where Lord Mayor Councillor Tony Cairns will greet them.

The festival celebrates harvest and also the Sikh New Year but primarily the anniversary of when the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, created a new order of Sikhs known as the Khalsa back in 1699.

It was then that he introduced a new code of dress representing outer, as well as inner, discipline, and he renamed the group Singhs, meaning lions.

President of the Bradford Council of Sikh Gurdwaras Pritam Singh said: "The Sikhs of Bradford will be celebrating this auspicious day with great pomp and show."

The religious procession, or nagar kirtan as it is known, will be led by five men representing the first five Sikhs to be baptised and become members of the Khalsa order.

Starting at 11am the walk, taking about seven hours, will start at Gurdwara Amrit Parchar Dhamic Diwan in Peckover Street, Little Germany.

The route will then be to Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji, in Wakefield Road then to Centenary Square for the Lord Mayor's address.

At 12.45pm the group will walk to Gurdwara Ravidas Bhawan in Manningham Lane then to the Ramgarhia Gurdwara in Bolton Road.

The procession will then go to Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Garnet Street then Gurdwara Guru Gobind Singh Ji in Leeds Road and back to the start.

Food in the form of a community meal will be served at each stop.

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