Baisakhi Celebrations

Sikhs parading through the street in celebration of Baisakhi, Wakefield Road, Bradford. Baisakhi, often described as Sikh New Year Day, commemorates the birth of The Khalsa, or brotherhood of the Sikhs, whereby five Sikhs are baptised, after offering their heads in an initiation ceremony called Khanda Ka Amrit (Baptism of the Sword), and given the new male name of Singh (lion), along with the mandatory Kachcha (shorts), Kanga (comb), Kara (steel bangle), Keshas (uncut hair) and Kirpan (two-edged sword), referred to as the five K's, and who thereafter become known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones); created to oppose the injustice and oppression, wherever it existed in the world, the forty-eight-hour ceremony involves the flag outside the local Gurdwara being taken down and dressed in a fresh new cloth, after having been washed with water, yoghurt and milk, which has been sat in the temple during the reciting of the Guru Granth Sahib (or Adi Granth), the main religious function.

Year

1989

Image filename

89 006 24

Collection

Bradford Heritage Recording Unit

Purchase options

Required information

Media options

Other items like this