Reblogged from But I Smile Anyway:

It is Vaisakhi today, an event with several meanings to different cultures and religions.

Happy Vaisakhi

It is celebrated by Hindus and Buddhists as part of welcoming the new solar year in.

But it is extremely important to the Punjabi community and the Sikh religion.  The time of Vaisakhi, or Baisakhi, as some say it, is a traditional harvest festival, and as the Punjab is a large farming area, it is a cause for celebration, when the crops are harvested, people dance, and have fun, they do Bhangra, sing and dance, and generally celebrate the freedom they will now have, after a successful (hopefully) harvest. But before all this fun and laughter, they use this time to pray, and thank God for the good harvest, and to pray for the future crops too.

As a Sikh it holds a great importance too.  Way back in 1699, our 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji laid the foundations of the Panth Khalsa, or the Order of the Pure ones, and so it is the birth of the Khalsa, and Sikhism as we know it now.

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