Hundreds of thousands of people from the Sikh community will be marking Vaisakhi across London this weekend.
Vaisakhi, also called Baisakhi, is the festival which celebrates the founding of the Sikh community, the Khalsa, in 1699.
It was originally a harvest festival in the Punjab region of India until it became Sikh's most important festival.
In east London, where it is thought there are 90,000 Sikhs, many enjoyed celebrating at an event in Newbury Park in Ilford on Saturday – where there was music, performers, food, and stalls selling traditional jewellery and clothing.
Event organiser Joydeep Das said Vaisakhi "is a beautiful spring festival" and the event was open to everybody "to come together and have a blast".
"Back in the day people used to welcome spring, they used to cut the grass, they used to cut the crops and feast.
"This is what we are having today – it's a feast of the senses, there's food, there's entertainment, there's shopping," he added.
The event is also a chance for the community to come together.
Mr Das said: "It's not just for the Sikh community but predominantly it is … and the Sikh community love celebrating.
"They need an occasion like this to come and celebrate."
One woman who attended said: "It's really lovely.
"All the community have got together, there are nice stalls. We're meeting new people."
Another said: "It's not very often that communities come together with events like this.
"It's an excuse for the community to gather, enjoy themselves."
"Here, the religion, the farmers, the kind of harvest, the spiritual element, the fun element for the community, the colours – everything comes together," another man said.
