Sikhs around the world celebrate Vaisakhi on April 14. So what’s all the excitement about?

On Vaisakhi in 1699, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh

  1. Created Amrit Sanchaar, the initiation or “baptism” ceremony
  2. Declared the 5 kakkars or symbols of faith that make up the Sikh identity
  3. Kneeled before the Five Beloved (the first 5 initiated Sikhs), and underwent the Amrit Saanchar Ceremony himself
  4. Declared that the next Guru would not be a person, but the teachings of the scripture contained in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred text

The occasion was a “capstone” event that completed the Sikh Faith, which began 230 years earlier in 1469 with the birth of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Sikhs celebrate by wearing bright saffron orange and blue (the “team colors” of the Sikh religion), and rededicating themselves to the Sikh mission of helping anyone in need. Many Sikhs also undergo the Amrit Sanchaar or initiation ceremony.

Now I’m a software guy, so I guess you could say that Sikhism was in “beta” for the years from 1469-1699, and that Vaisakhi marks the “release.” The release included an initiation program (Amrit Sanchaar), an operating system (Sikhi itself), and the source code (the poetic teachings contained in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib). The Khalsa (the community of baptized Sikhs) is the hardware upon which all this awesome software runs, but there are some minimum hardware requirements specified by the 5K’s. Anyway, I’m running off to gurdwara now, so read a more ‘down-to-earth’ interpretation of Vaisakhi after the jump.

Here’s another writeup on Vaisakhi, snipped from Deep Kamal Singh’s Notes in facebook.

Vaisakhi is an important Sikh festival. It usually falls on April 13 (occasionally April 14) and celebrates the founding of the institution of Khalsa in 1699 which made the current outer identity of the Sikhs – unshorn hair and beard and a head covering – as a mandatory part of their faith. In addition, members of the Sikh faith were ordered to adopt the additional name of Singh, meaning lion, or Kaur, meaning princess symbolizing equality, and to follow a code of conduct, which Sikhs still uphold today, practicing equality, kindness, courage, steadfastness, and leadership. The Khalsa was created by the founders of Sikhism to encourage people to stand up for their own civil rights and religious freedom for all.

Today, Vaisakhi is celebrated by Sikhs all over the world as a religious and social occasion. They go with their families to the Gurdwara (the Sikh place of worship) to sing hymns, and to read the Sikh Holy Book, Guru Granth Sahib. Processions and feasting follow readings of the Holy Scripture. Vaisakhi brings together people of all backgrounds in a congregation in the spirit of love and respect.

Vaisakhi is both sacred and secular, which encourages everyone to congregate, meet and mix amid festivity and pageantry. The Vaisakhi is, at its simplest, a time to rise above prejudices and join in the unique celebration of life. It embodies, at a deeper level, the concept of cyclical regeneration as in all harvest festivals. In Punjab, (where Sikhism originated) in India, Vaisakhi celebrates the bringing in of the wheat crop with songs and dances.