Vaisakhi 2010

Marking the Sikh New Year, Vaisakhi is the most important date in the Sikh calendar.

This year, Vaisakhi will be celebrated by the Sikh community in Reading and Wokingham with a Nagar Kirtan (religious procession), organised by Siri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara and Ramgarhia Sabha Reading Gurdwara. This event is being run successfully for the last 8 years with attendances of 2000 people yearly.

Vaisakhi is the main Sikh festival of the year and is celebrated in major cities and towns across the country. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the free celebrations and join in with the Nagar Kirtan which will begin with prayers and messages for peace. Shabad Kirtan (religious hymns) will be lead by the ‘Panj Pyare’ (Five Sikhs) from Reading Gurdwara (Sikh temple).

The procession will begin from Siri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Cumberland Road at 10.30am and will make its way to the Ramgarhia Sabha Reading Gurdwara in London Road. Free vegetarian food will then be served during the afternoon; which all are welcome to partake in.

The Nagar Kirtan provides a great opportunity for the Sikh Community to support local charities by raising awareness and greatly needed funds. This year the Sikh community will be working with Reading and District Hospital Charity to collect donations for the “Robbie the Robot” Project – used by Royal Berkshire Hospital to transform prostate cancer treatments within the county.

What is Vaisakhi?

Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year, is the holiest day of the calendar for over 20 million Sikhs worldwide. It is celebrated on 14 April each year. On this day in 1699, Sikhism was born as a collective faith. Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the 10th Master of the Sikhs, initiated the Sikhs as the Khalsa by baptising five Sikhs (Panj Pyaras) or the pure and sincere. He bound the Sikhs to a strict code of conduct, with unshorn hair, beard and turban, which gave the Sikhs a distinct identity. Prior to 1699, Vaisakhi was celebrated as a harvest festival across north India.

2. How do Sikh’s celebrate Vaisakhi?

Vaisakhi is religious as well as a social celebration, generally Vaisakhi celebration is initiated two days prior to the big day itself, when continues reading of the Holy Scriptures, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, is undertaken. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is read start to finish, non stop, and takes 48 hours to perform by the members of the community. On completion, there is big coming together of the community to listen and participate in singing of divine hymns and sharing of food. The Nishan Sahib (Flagpole with Sikh emblem outside all Sikh places of worship) is also changed and a new flag is hoisted at Vaisakhi and all the community shares in this act.

Vaisakhi celebration is concluded with a Nagar Kirtan, which generally takes place few weeks after 14^th April. Nagar Kirtan ('Nagar Kirtan is a Punjabi terms which literally means "Neighbourhood Hymn singing"). The word "Nagar" means "neighbourhood and "Kirtan" is a term describing singing of Shabads (divine hymns). The term refers to the procession of Sikh Sangat (Congregation) through the town singing holy hymns and spreading the message about oneness of all mankind and its obligation and duty to worship a single God.

3. Why is Nagar Kirtan relevant to the wider community?

Sikhs have been part of the UK, and Reading, for more than 50 years and are a well established within the mainstream of British life. As a distinct religious group we get mistaken for many other faiths due to ignorance, media mis-representation and an absence of Sikh religious education. Sikhs believe that all major faith point to the same Divine Being and every person has the right to practise their faith as long as it does so without offending and harming other faiths. Nagar Kirtan is a way of educating the wider community of our existence, our being part of the wider society within the UK and it also serves to bring all the Sikhs together in a neighbourhood to celebrate and share a very important date in our calendar.