By Mata Press Service
Vernal Equinox has passed and the colours of spring mix with harvest festivals of every shade and hue all over the northern hemisphere.
But none match in colours so vibrant as the Sikh Baisakhi parade on Main Street in Vancouver mid-April every year. Or now in greater prominence, the parade in Surrey.
For the Indo-Canadian community in B.C., Baisakhi parades are the high point of their cultural year.
Producer/Director of the TV show ‘Viva’, Baljit Sangra, is an avid spectator at the Main Street parade. "It has been part of me since my childhood," she says stressing tha
Baljit Sangra
t she makes it to the event faithfully come April of each year.
"The parade has grown over the years and it is great to see in the last 5-6 years that so many attending now are from the mainstream and not only from the South Asian community," comments Baljit.
Traffic is diverted and close to six streets Downtown are closed to accommodate the steadily growing throngs that gather to celebrate. "There is a truly multicultural element to it. This shows that people recognize the Sikh contribution to the cultural landscape."
The Sikh community, whose presence has been known since the late 1800’s in western Canada much before ‘Komagata Maru’, holds Baisakhi as one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar.
It is the Sikh New Year, a harvest festival and also commemorates the founding of Sikhism as a collective faith by Guru Gobindh Singh.
The 10th guru of the community, Guru Gobind Singh chose Baisakhi as the occasion to transform the Sikhs into a family of soldier saints. Five men who rose up to his call to be martyrs of the faith were baptized as the Panj Piare, or "Beloved Five" in that spring of
A traditional harvest celebration
1699 initiating the first Sikh baptism in Punjab, India.
Ever since then Gurudwaras (temples) are decorated and visited. Parades, dancing and singing take place throughout the day and some choose this day to be baptized into Sikhism.
The famous parades of Main Street or of Surrey are termed nagar kirtan. Nagar means "town," while Kirtan is a term that denotes the singing of hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
The parades are replete with music, singing, the chanting of scriptures and hymns and even dancing of the traditional Bhangra dance. At the head of the processions one will always find the traditionally dressed Panj Piaras.
Food, fun and sponsored booths are also part of the day’s attractions while the brightly decorated streets and the bright glistening traditional attire of the revelers themselves are a treat to the eyes and senses.
Says Sukhpreet Singh, organizer of the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan parade in Su
rrey: "This parade abounds with the spirit of giving – free food, activities for kids, business kiosks giving out their products, martial art performances and floats, including fireworks at night."
