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Come celebrate Vaisakhi!
Baisakhi or Vaisakhi, occurring on the first day of the month of Vaisakh, serves as both a harvest festival for Hindu’s and as the Sikh New Year.
Here in Metro Vancouver, it is one of the premiere events in the region’s social calender, spawning kirtans, parades, and celebration. Whether on Main Street in Vancouver or on the parade route in Surrey’s Newton area, you will find people dressed in bright colours, stalls of free food lining the sidewalks, demonstrations of the kirpan, and outpourings of music. In short, you will find excitement.
Vaisakhi Parade Celebration
Time:
10:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Date:
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Location:
Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar Temple 12885-85th Ave.
Description:
The Vaisakhi Celebration in Surrey celebrates more than just the birth of the Sikh identity.
As crowds gather in the thousands, the Vaisakhi Parade symbolizes diversity and
multiculturalism.
The Vaisakhi Celebration in Surrey celebrates more than just the birth of the Sikh identity.
As crowds gather in the thousands, the Vaisakhi Parade symbolizes diversity and
multiculturalism.
Traffic controls will be in place beginning at 7:30 a.m. until approximately 5:00 p.m.
Access to 128th Street will be impacted most significantly. Increased delays may be expected for travel through and within the area between 72 Ave to 88 Ave., and 124th Street to King George Hwy.
For Information:
Please call Jatinder Gill at 604.763.7068
Get plugged in!
If you plan to join the fun celebrating Vaisakhi, here’s a handy events schedule just for you.
The two major events will be located in the Newton area of Surrey and on Main Street in Vancouver. The events are free and open to everyone. Here’s a breakdown:
The two major events will be located in the Newton area of Surrey and on Main Street in Vancouver. The events are free and open to everyone. Here’s a breakdown:
In Surrey, on Saturday April 12th, a Nagar Kirtan, or a parade of people singing hymns, will start from the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar, located at 128th St. and 84th Ave, late morning. It will continue down to 82nd St. where it will turn and continue to 124th St. Once there, it will once again turn and continue onto 76th Ave before turning again back to 128th St.
Finally, it will turn and making its way up the street, head back to the Gurdwara, arriving there in the late afternoon.
This entire route will be closed down to cars — as likely will the streets around it — so your best bet is to try and park nearby (which may be a challenge all of itself) and walk a few blocks to the thronged streets.
Once there, you will find the streets lined with stalls, all offering their food for free.
You can see Martial Arts demonstrations and hear various kinds of music or just admire the floats if you wish. To top off the experience, you can make your way over to the Gudwara which, in the evening, will feature celebratory fireworks.
If you happen to be in Vancouver on April 19th, you can catch the Vaisakhi parade downtown.
Starting from the Ross Street Temple at the corner of Ross Street and Marine Drive, it will head to Main Street along Marine Drive and turn right and continue to 49th Ave. It will then turn again to Fraser St. and head back to the temple along 57th Ave.
As in the Surrey parade, you can find food stalls and music, and lots of chatter and entertainment.
How it began . . .
For those of the Sikh religion, Vaisakhi is an important day. On this day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa, originally a group of saint-soldiers but now the collective body of all baptized Sikhs.
According to the history passed down, Guru Gobind Singh and the followers of the faith gathered at Keshgarh Sahib near Anandpur, where the Guru walked out of his tent and asked a person to step forward who was willing to die for his faith.
One man stepped forward and was taken into the Guru’s tent. A few moments later, the Guru exited the tent alone, his sword stained with blood.
He asked once again for a man to step forward who was willing to die for his faith. And again. Each time he came out alone after a few minutes with his bloodstained sword.
Finally, the whole assembly on edge, the five who had gone into the tent emerged together unscathed. They were nominated as the Panj Pyares, or the five beloved ones, the first of a community of equals.
The guru stripped them of their surnames, which were associated with India’s caste system, and gave them, and all consequent Sikh men, the surname of Singh, meaning “lion” and symbolizing their courage.
He gave the women the surname of Kaur, meaning “princess,” to emphasize their dignity and complete equality with males. And he gave Sikhs five symbols to wear indicative of their new identity.
These were Kesh (uncut hair), Kanga (a small wooden comb), Kara (an iron bracelet usually worn on the right wrist), Kaccha (a special type of undergarment) and kirpan (a small sword meant for defense). These symbols are colloquially known as The Five Ks.
The Five Ks... (pix)
On Vaisakhi, 1699, Guru Gobind Singh gave Sikhs five symbols to mark their faith. While these symbols are no longer universally worn by all, many Sikhs still maintain the tradition.
Kesh
Keeping the hair unshorn is a symbol of the perfection of God’s creation. As well, it is a means to insure that a Sikh cannot blend into a crowd of Hindu’s and Muslims. Rather, everyone knows he is a Sikh. Others believe that in combination with the turban, the Kesh adds an element of ferocity for the warrior Sikh. This symbol has been targeted by many people wishing to denigrate the religion. In recent years, however, the trend has gone to short hair as young Sikhs increasingly follow fashion rather than tradition.
Kanga
The kanga is a small comb that was to be worn by Sikhs at all times. Practically, it was a means to keep hair clean and emphasized cleanliness and discipline. On a deeper level, it serves to remind Sikhs that they should keep their lives organized and tidy. It is generally worn at the back of the knot in the hair to keep it in place.
Kara
The kara is an iron bracelet worn to remind Sikhs that whatever they do with their hands should be in keeping with the beliefs and teachings of the faith. It offers the opportunity to take a moment’s pause and reflect on decisions before carrying them out.
Kacha
The kacha is a special undergarment proscribed by the guru. Its main purpose is to serve as a reminder to control your sexual desires. It also imparts dignity and honour to the person wearing it and, as similar garments are worn by both sexes, encourages Sikhs to think of members of the opposite sex as they would their family members rather than as sexual objects. It is drawn tight by the use of a drawstring and it is believed that the extra time it takes to untie the kacha should be time used to think about what one is about to do.
Kirpan
The kirpan is a short ceremonial sword. It is, however, rarely unsheathed. It instead stands as an injunction to all Sikhs to protect those who need protection and prevent violence. It is also a symbol of the power of truth to cut through untruth. There is no specific length a kirpan needs to be and so it can be the size of a brooch or near to a meter long. While in many countries it is illegal to wear the kirpan, it is legal in most situations in Canada. The word “kirpan” means “weapon of defense” as opposed to the word for a sword meant for offence, a “talwar.”
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Jalianwala Bagh, a memorial to lost souls (pix)
While Vaisakhi is a time of great joy and celebration for both Hindus and Sikhs, it is also a time when we may mourn the deaths of nearly two thousand people.
Almost a century ago, on Vaisakhi in 1919, a group of soldiers belonging to the British Empire opened fire on the people congregated in Jalianwala Bagh, which is located near the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The people had gathered to celebrate the festival, as they had done for almost two-hundred years.
The Bagh, or garden, was located on a piece of land surrounded by houses and buildings.
There were only a few narrow entrances, most of which were kept permanently locked.
So when the people in the garden were fired upon, there was only one entrance they could escape from that wasn’t locked or blocked off by troops.
When the group of 90 Indian Army officers fired upon the mass there was an immediate panic and rush to escape.
People were shot down while trying to climb the walls because they could not get out of the entrance.
Many tried to escape the bullets by leaping into a well located into a garden and died there.
While many versions of this event describe the segment of the Indian population in the Bagh as an army or as aggressive protesters, it is generally believed that they were non-violent and this action by the British was in fact, motivated by genocidal tendencies.
Now, nearly a century later, there remains a memorial to all those souls who lost their lives in the massacre.
And there remains a memory that humankind is indeed capable of horrible things, a warning to prevent something like this from ever occurring again.
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