Vaisakhi

This article is about the Hindu and Sikh festival. For the Buddhist festival, see Vesak. For the disciple of Buddha, see Visakha.
See also: Indian New Year's days

Vaisakhi
Sikh procession in Birmingham, England.
Official nameVaisakhi
Also calledBaisakhi, Vaisakha Jayanti, Visakhī
Observed byHindus, Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims[2]
TypeReligious and harvest festival[1]
SignificanceSolar new year,[3][4][5][6] harvest festival, birth of the Khalsa
CelebrationsFairs, processions and temple decorations
ObservancesReligious gatherings and practices
Begins1 Vaisakh (13 April)
Ends2 Vaisakh (14 April)
Date13 or 14 April[1]
2024 dateSaturday, 13 April[7]
Related toSouth and Southeast Asian solar New Year

Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi,[9] marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April.[10][3][11] It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Punjab and Northern India.[12][13][14][15][2] Whilst it is culturally significant as a festival of harvest, in many parts of India, Vaisakhi is also the date for the Indian Solar New Year.[16][17][18]

For Sikhs, in addition to its significance as the harvest festival,[4] during which Sikhs hold kirtans, visit local gurdwaras, community fairs, hold nagar kirtan processions, raise the Nishan Sahib flag, and gather to socialize and share festive foods,[3][19][20] Vaisakhi observes major events in the history of Sikhism and the Indian subcontinent that happened in the Punjab region.[19][21] Vaisakhi as a major Sikh festival marks the birth of the Khalsa order by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhism, on 13 April 1699.[22][23][24] Later, Ranjit Singh was proclaimed as Maharaja of the Sikh Empire on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Vaisakhi), creating a unified political state.[25]

Vaisakhi was also the day when Bengal Army officer Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to shoot into a protesting crowd in Amritsar, an event which would come to be known the Jallianwala Bagh massacre; the massacre proved influential to the history of the Indian independence movement.[19]

This holiday is observed by Sikhs and is known by various regional names in other parts of India. For many Hindu communities, the festival is an occasion to ritually bathe in sacred rivers such as Ganges, Jhelum, and Kaveri, visit temples, meet friends, take part in other festivities, and perform a mandatory daan (charity) especially of hand fans, water pitchers and seasonal fruits. Community fairs are held at Hindu pilgrimage sites. In many areas, processions of temple deities are taken out. The holiday also marks the worship and propitiation of various deities, such as Durga in Himachal Pradesh, Surya in Bihar, and Vishnu in southern India.[26] Although Vaisakhi began as a grain harvest festival for Hindus and its observance predates the creation of Sikhism, it gained historical association with the Sikhs following the inauguration of the Khalsa.[35][36][37]

  1. ^ a b c "Baisakhi Festival". 16 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference PechilisRaj2013p48 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c K.R. Gupta; Amita Gupta (2006). Concise Encyclopaedia of India. Atlantic Publishers. p. 998. ISBN 978-81-269-0639-0.
  4. ^ a b "Vaisakhi and the Khalsa". bbc.com. BBC Religions (2009).
  5. ^ William Owen Cole; Piara Singh Sambhi (1995). The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-898723-13-4.[permanent dead link‍], Quote: "The Sikh new year, Vaisakhi, occurs at Sangrand in April, usually on the thirteenth day."
  6. ^ International Commerce. Bureau of International Maths olympiad Commerce. 1970.
  7. ^ Mata, William (9 April 2024). "Vaisakhi 2024: when is the Sikh and Hindu celebration, and how to celebrate in London's Trafalgar Square?". Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  8. ^ "April 2021 Official Central Government Holiday Calendar". Government of India. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Basoa of Himachal Pradesh, Festival of Himachal Pradesh, Fairs of Himachal Pradesh".
  10. ^ Harjinder Singh. Vaisakhi. Akaal Publishers. p. 2.
  11. ^ "Baisakhi Mela at Udhampur". Daily Excelsior. 14 April 2022.
  12. ^ Brown, Alan (1992). Festivals in World Religions. Longman. p. 120. ISBN 9780582361966. In some north Indian states, including the Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, the solar New Year, which occurs at the spring equinox, is celebrated as a festival known as Vaisakhi.
  13. ^ Harbans Singh (1 January 1998). The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism: S-Z. Publications Bureau. ISBN 978-81-7380-530-1.
  14. ^ Rinehart, Robin; Rinehart, Robert (2004). Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-905-8.
  15. ^ Kelly, Aidan A.; Dresser, Peter D.; Ross, Linda M. (1993). Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopaedic Handbook. Omnigraphics, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-55888-348-2.
  16. ^ Bowker, John (2000). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-19-280094-7. The first day of the Sikh solar month Vaisakha (Apr-May), it is New Year's Day by the solar calendar of South and East India and a spring harvest festival in North and East India, celebrated with melas, dances, and folksongs.
  17. ^ "Basoa (Baisakhi)- The New Year Festival". 14 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Dogri - A language of historical significance". 27 November 2021.
  19. ^ a b c S. R. Bakshi, Sita Ram Sharma, S. Gajnani (1998) Parkash Singh Badal: Chief Minister of Punjab. APH Publishing pages 208–209
  20. ^ Jonathan H. X. Lee; Kathleen M. Nadeau (2011). Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1012–1013. ISBN 978-0-313-35066-5.
  21. ^ William Owen Cole; Piara Singh Sambhi (1995). The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-1-898723-13-4.
  22. ^ Seiple, Chris (2013). The Routledge handbook of religion and security. New York: Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-415-66744-9.
  23. ^ Pashaura Singh; Louis E. Fenech (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. Oxford University Press. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-0-19-969930-8.
  24. ^ Harkirat S. Hansra (2007). Liberty at Stake, Sikhs: the Most Visible. iUniverse. pp. 28–29. ISBN 978-0-595-43222-6.
  25. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism Archived 8 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, section Sāhib Siṅgh Bedī, Bābā (1756–1834).
  26. ^ "BBC - Religions - Hinduism: Vaisakhi". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  27. ^ Śarmā, Gautama (1984). Folklore of Himachal Pradesh. National Book Trust, India.
  28. ^ Oxtoby, Willard (2007). A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Oxford University Press. pp. 338–339. ISBN 978-0-19-542207-8. Baisakhi, which is celebrated as New Year's day in India, follows a solar calendar and usually falls on 13 April. It began as a grain harvest festival for Hindus, but has acquired historical association for Sikhs.
  29. ^ Cush, Denise (21 August 2012). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Taylor and Francis. p. 916. ISBN 9781135189792.
  30. ^ Lochtefeld, James (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M. Rosen Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 9780823931798. Baisakhi is celebrated mainly in the north, particularly in the state of Punjab and its surrounding regions. In the days when pilgrims still traveled through the Himalayas on foot, this festival marked the beginning of the Himalayan pilgrimage season; during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Baisakhi was the occasion for a great trading festival in the town of Haridwar, the gateway to the Himalayan shrines. Although this fair has long been eclipsed, Baisakhi is still the climactic bathing (snana) day for the Haridwar Kumbha Mela and Ardha Kumbha Mela, each of which is a bathing festival that occurs about every twelve years when Jupiter is in the sign of Aquarius (for the Kumbha Mela) or Leo (for the Ardha Kumbha Mela).
  31. ^ Cole, W. Owen (26 August 2004). Understanding Sikhism. Dunedin Academic Press Ltd. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-906716-91-2. Sikhs were also instructed to assemble wherever the Guru happened to be at the Hindu spring festival of Vaisakhi (or Baisakhi), and in the autumn, at Diwali.
  32. ^ Rinehart, Robin (2004). Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-57607-905-8.
  33. ^ Christian Roy (2005). Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 479–480. ISBN 978-1-57607-089-5.
  34. ^ Knott, Kim (25 February 2016). Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-19-106271-1.
  35. ^ [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]
  36. ^ "Vaisakhi" (PDF). University of Denver. Vaisakhi predates Sikhism and began as a grain harvest festival in the Punjab region of India.
  37. ^ "What is Vaisakhi, or Baisakhi and how is it celebrated?". BBC Newsround. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2024. Vaisakhi has been a harvest festival in Punjab - an area of northern India - for a long time, even before it became so important to Sikhs.