calendar icon Fri, April 14, 2023

The festival of Baisakhi is celebrated to mark the onset of spring in India. The time of Baisakhi usually signifies the end of the harvest season, and is an occasion of tremendous joy and festivity for farmers. The celebrations are concentrated in the states of Punjab and Haryana. In other parts of India, Baisakhi is known by diverse names - Pohela Boishakh in West Bengal, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Bihu in Uttarakhand, Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Pooram Vishu in Kerala and Maha Vishuva Sankranti in Odisha.

How is it celebrated?
The celebrations start with people bathing in a holy river and going to Gurudwaras, chief of which are the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Gurudwara at Anandpur Sahib, where Khalsa was born, and Talwandi Sabo, where Guru Gobind Singh recompiled the sacred Guru Granth Sahib. After the prayers, people delve into merriment and dance and sing. The popular phrase 'Jatta Aayi Baisakhi' is proclaimed loudly in neighbourhoods as gleeful farmers celebrate a bountiful harvest. 

Feasts are an integral part of the festival and the traditional Karah Prasad (a semolina concoction prepared with wheat, clarified butter and sugar) is a special delicacy. People congregate for lunch at the guru-ka-langur or community kitchen at the Gurudwaras and after a shared meal, take out grand processions of Nagar Kirtan, in which devotional songs are played.