Baisakhi

Baisakhi, important Sikh festival, which is also New Year's Day in the Indian state of Punjab. It usually falls on April 13 (occasionally April 14) and celebrates the founding of the Sikh religion, in the late 15th century, by Guru Nanak, who is said to have begun his missionary travels on this day. It was proclaimed a special festival by the Sikh's third guru, Amar Das, and became the official birthday of the Sikh faith in 1699 when over 100,000 Sikhs gathered together to hear the tenth guru, Gobind Singh, establish what is known as the brotherhood of Sikhs, the Khalsa. Members of the Sikh faith were ordered to adopt the additional name of Singh, meaning lion, or Kaur, meaning lioness or princess, and to follow a code of conduct, which Sikhs still uphold today, practising equality, kindness, righteousness, courage, steadfastness, and leadership.

In northern India Baisakhi is also a harvest festival which celebrates the bringing in of the wheat crop with songs and dances. Today, Baisakhi is celebrated by Sikhs all over the world as a religious and social occasion.