Vaisakhi (Baisakhi)

About Vaisakhi (Baisakhi)

Significance

Vaisakhi (Baisakhi) is the first day of the solar month Vaisakh, when the Sun enters sidereal Mesha, and it opens the year of the Punjabi solar calendar. It is the harvest festival of the rabi crop, when the wheat of Punjab and Haryana is ready to be cut, and its fairs, bhangra and giddha have long made it the most joyous day of the Punjabi year.

For Sikhs it is also Khalsa Sajna Divas. On Vaisakhi 1699 at Anandpur Sahib, Guru Gobind Singh called for those ready to give their heads for the faith; five came forward, the Panj Pyare, and were initiated with khande di pahul, the amrit prepared with a double-edged sword, founding the Khalsa. Vaisakhi is also remembered for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar on 13 April 1919, when British troops fired on a crowd that included many gathered for the festival.

How and where it is observed

Vaisakhi is celebrated throughout Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Delhi and by Punjabi and Sikh communities worldwide. The largest Sikh gatherings are at Anandpur Sahib, at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo and at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Hindus mark the Mesha Sankranti with bathing in sacred rivers, notably at Haridwar. The same ingress is the New Year in other regions, as Bohag Bihu in Assam, Vishu in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, each kept by its own rule.

Rituals

Gurdwaras hold kirtan and the completion of an akhand path, and nagar kirtans, processions led by five Sikhs representing the Panj Pyare, carry the Guru Granth Sahib through the streets; many Sikhs take amrit on this day, and langar is served to all. In villages, farmers celebrate the harvest with fairs, bhangra and giddha, and Hindu families bathe early, worship at temples and give grain and water pots in charity.

How the date is fixed

Vaisakhi has no tithi: it is 1 Vaisakh, fixed by the Sun’s entry into sidereal Mesha. Following the convention of the Government of India and Punjab holiday lists, it is the Hindu day, from sunrise to the next sunrise, that contains the ingress, so an ingress between midnight and sunrise counts to the previous civil date. Many almanacs and Punjabi calendars take the civil date of the ingress instead, a day later in such years, and the original Nanakshahi calendar (2003) fixes Vaisakhi on 14 April; follow the calendar of your gurdwara.

Sources

• Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India: holiday lists for Central Government offices (Vaisakhi)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Baisakhi
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Khalsa
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.