Baisakhi

Baisakhi is one of the most popular festivals in India especially in the state of Punjab. It is celebrated with huge fanfare and excitement each year. The festival takes place at the farming time when the Rabi crop is ready for harvesting. Baisakhi happens on a lucky day i.e. when the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, founded the Khalsa Panth cult. It dates to around three hundred years.

How Baisakhi is being celebrated?

The festival is celebrated with immense fun, frolic, and merry making. The time of the festival falls on April 13 or April 14 as per the Indian solar calendar. People participate in the festival by eating a wide range of homemade Punjabi delicacies. Other local food items and sweets are also cooked and eaten during the festival. All the family members have dinner together and enjoy themselves by performing the famous folk dance of the state Punjab-Bhangra. Women take part in a lot of dances as well. In addition to Bhangra, another popular form of enjoyment is the Gidda dance, which is played along with traditional music.

Men and women irrespective of age decorate themselves with colored clothes and traditional jewelry. The worships are usually made on the banks of rivers and streams.

Religious processions led by the Panj Piaras or the five religious men are taken out in various cities and provinces. Traditional songs, kirtans, and recitations of holy passages from the Guru Granth Sahib are made in Gurudwaras. The ritual of Kar Sewa is also performed. Kar Sewa is the process of offering physical labor to assist in the everyday jobs of the Gurudwara. It is a traditional symbol of modesty for the Sikh community.