Vaisakhi (also known as Baisakhi or Vasakhi) is an ancient harvest festival in the Punjab region, which also marks beginning of a new solar year, and new harvest season. Baisakhi is a Sikh religious festival. It falls on the first day of the Baisakh month in the solar Nanakshahi calendar, which corresponds to April 14 in the Gregorian calendar.In Sikhism, it is one of the most significant holidays in the Sikh calendar, commemorating the establishment of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1699, by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. It also marks the beginning of the Sikh new year.
To mark the celebrations, devotees, irrespective of Sikh religion, throng at gurdwara the Sikh place of worship. The celebrations start early as devotees, with flowers and offerings in their hands, proceed towards the gurdwaras and temples before dawn. Processions through towns are also common. Baisakhi is the day on which the Khalsa (The Pure Ones) was born and Sikhs were given a clear identity and a code of conduct to live by. The event was led by the last living Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who baptised the first Sikhs using sweet nectar called Amrit. Around the world at Baisakhi time, Sikhs and Punjabis reflect on the values taught to them by their Gurus and celebrate the birth of the Khalsa.
In Pakistan Baisakhi is culturally and traditionally regarded as an important and significant Punjabi festival, and this is further exemplified by the fact when thousands of Sikh pilgrims from India arrive each year to commemorate the day at the sacred Sikh sites of Nankana Sahib and Hasan Abdal in the country. On April 2009, the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee more recently announced official plans for formally organising the event to a larger scale in the country as well as expressing intentions for elegant arrangements.
In Punjab, India the main celebration takes place at Talwandi Sabo (where Guru Gobind Singh stayed for nine months and completed the recompilation of the Guru Granth Sahib), and in the gurdwara at Anandpur Sahib, the birth place of Khalsa and at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
In the United States, there is usually a parade a few days after Baisakhi. In Manhattan, New York City people come out to do "seva" (religious work) such as giving out free food, and completing any other labor that needs to be done. The local Sikh community in Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia, Canada holds its annual Baisakhi celebrations in the April long weekend, which often includes a nagar kirtan, or parade, which an estimated 200,000 people attend.
Surrey Baisakhi Parade in British Columbia, Canada is the largest known parade outside of India, estimate attendance grows 15% year every year and covers an area of several square miles.
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