Baisakhi is majorly a festival of celebrated by people belonging to the Sikh community in Punjab and by Sikhs around world belonging to the Sikh community. This festival celebrates the welcoming of the harvest season for the rabi crops and people celebrate this day with a lot of zeal and excitement by performing Gidhha and bhangra. The festival holds a great religious significance for the people of the Sikh community because it was the day in year 1699 that the tenth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh laid the foundation stone for Panth Khalsa-the Order of the Pure Ones.
Every year Baisakhi is celebrated on the first day of the Vaisakh month (that is April or May), which is in accordance with the Sikh calendar and that is why the festival has been given the name of Baisakhi. Every year, Baisakhi falls on 13th of April and on 14th April in every 36 years and this difference is because of the fact that Baisakhi is celebrated on the basis of solar calendar and not the lunar calendar. This pious festival is celebrated all over the country in its different parts with different names and different cultures follow different rituals for celebrating the festival. The date of Baisakhi coincides with that of the 'Naba Barsha' in Bengal, 'Rongali Bihu' in Assam, 'Pooram Vishu' in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu.
For the huge farming community of the state of Haryana and Punjab, this day is believed to mark a new year as it is the time for harvest of the Rabi crops. Farmers take the opportunity, on this day to show gratitude to God for such great harvest and for all the future joyous events ahead. Most people celebrate this day by dancing, singing, buying new clothes and cooking delicious food. Baisakhi fairs are also organized in a number of villages of Punjab.
Most of the major activities` related to the festival are organized in Gurudwara. People get up early in the morning and start preparing for the day. Also many of them take bath in the holy river as a way of celebrating during the auspicious occasion. People visit to their nearby Gurudwara and take part in the parayer being held at the Gurudwara and after the prayer people receive special Prashad for the day which is then followed by langar which is the community lunch as organized by the Gurudwara authorities. Then, during the day time a Biasakhi procession is taken out by the people of Sikh faith which is lead by the Panj piaras. This procession moves all through the city with devotional songs playing in the background.
The festival of Baisakhi is celebrated as a way of remembering the day when the Khalsa Panth was founded and also as the New Year of the Sikh community. Its origin is related to the year 1699, when Baisakhi day was celebrated which was organized by the Tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh to form Khalsa (the union of the saint soldiers to fight against the oppressive acts).
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