Southampton's Hindu community has come together to bring Diwali celebrations to the heart of the city.
The annual festival of lights, representing the victory of good over evil or light over darkness, is one of the most important festivals in India, the equivalent of Christmas in Christian countries.
To allow people from all walks of life to join in the celebrations, Hindus in Southampton decided to spread the joy of Diwali beyond the walls of the city's temple by organising a parade at Westquay.
Sanjay Chandarana, president of The Vedic Society Hindu Temple, said: "Diwali is the biggest Hindu festival and the biggest official event for Hindus all around the world.
"Southampton is very vibrant and a lot of people said, ‘we have everything at Westquay but not a Diwali celebration’. So Westquay's general manager asked us to do something for Diwali at the of the end of last year.
"We have been working on this since January this year. The purpose of this is not to hire any talent from outside but use the talent that the Hindu people of Southampton have.
"Diwali is all about celebration, it’s the festival of lights, it’s about all about decoration. It is supposed to bring all people together.
"People know of Diwali, they know this is a festival but it’s a lot bigger than that, it’s about bringing unity. It’s about reflecting over the last year and about hope for the next year."
Saturday's parade was also attended by the city's Lord Mayor, Cllr Valerie Laurent.
Dozens of people gathered to watch it.
Dahlia Jamil , the Chief Executive of Art Asia, who co-produced the event, added: "We were delighted with the turn out. It was so uplifting to see so many hundreds of people from all walks of life and from diverse communities enjoying and experiencing Diwali.
The celebrations were brought together by the collective efforts of the Art Asia team, Westquay, Vedic Society, the workshop leaders including John Hansard Gallery, and Southampton staging and production suppliers Transform Venue and Paul Sparrow.
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