Baisakhi

Baisakhi has been celebrated as a harvest festival in the Punjab region for centuries, marking the time when the winter wheat crop ripens under the April sun. Farmers would thank God for a bountiful harvest and pray for prosperity in the coming year — a tradition that continues in villages across Punjab and Haryana today.

The festival gained immense spiritual significance for Sikhs in 1699 CE, when the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, chose Baisakhi to establish the Khalsa Panth at Anandpur Sahib. He called upon Sikhs from across the subcontinent, and from the assembled thousands, selected five volunteers — the Panj Pyare (Five Beloved Ones) — who offered their lives for their faith. They were initiated through the Amrit Sanchar ceremony, forming the cornerstone of the Khalsa brotherhood.

Baisakhi also holds a painful historical memory: on 13 April 1919, British colonial troops under General Dyer opened fire on a peaceful gathering of thousands at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, massacring hundreds who had assembled for Baisakhi. This tragedy became a turning point in India's independence movement and is solemnly remembered every year.