Baisakhi festivities mark start of wheat harvesting season

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 13

On the occasion of the auspicious festival of Baisakhi, a large number of people visited gurdwaras to pay their respects here on Saturday.

Celebrating the festival in their own style, several organisations and institutions organised various events. Almost every village in the area organised langar to mark the event. Langars were organised in various areas of the city where people distributed various snacks to commuters.

Even though times have changed, it is still celebrated with the usual zeal and fervor. Now, many political leaders take it as an opportunity to use the auspicious festival to gain political mileage out of it. Here two big events on Baisakhi need a special mention.

Notably, both events had far wider and long-lasting implications on the political history of the region. “For Punjabis, Vaesakhi is a mix of several emotions — joy, devotion, sacrifice and hope. And hope fills everyone with joy,” said Sandeep Singh, a school teacher.

Celebrating the festival in their own style, several organizations and institutions organized various events here on Saturday. Almost every village in the area organized a langar to mark the event in the true sense of the religion.

Gurnam Singh, an old timer, said, “Only a few decades ago, the festival was a sort of celebrations when the farmers had completed their wheat harvesting. Famous poem ‘Vaisakhi’ by poet Dhani Ram Chatrik is a testimony to the fact that people celebrated the festival after finishing the harvesting,” Singh said, adding that times are changing fast and so is the environment. He said this Baisakhi, every Punjabi must take pledge to conserve the environment by checking pollution.

Meanwhile, the holy Baisakhi festival was celebrated with religious fervor in all the gurdwaras of the district on Saturday. A large number of devotees visited Darbar Sahib, Tarn Taran, where they take dip in the holy sarovar and listened to kirtan with full concentration. Bhai Dharwinder Singh, manager of Darbar Sahib, said there were all arrangements to make the visit of the devotees trouble free. Langer and lodging facilities were also arranged in the gurdwara complex.

The manager said a nagar kirtan procession was taken out led by the Panj Piaras with holy Guru Granth Sahib placed in a golden Palki around the holy sarovar in Tarn Taran.

Devotees also visited Gurdwara Beer Baba Budha Sahib, Thatha, Gurdwara Panjvi Patshahi, Chohla Sahib, Gurdwara Baoli Sahib Sri Goindwal Sahib, gurdwaras in Khadoor Sahib, Gurdwara Baba Jallan ji Naushehra Dhalla and others.

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