Sikh new year celebration to be held at Harrow High School

DANCE workshops and prayers will mark the Sikh New Year in Harrow this weekend. Vaisakhi will be held at Harrow High School, in Gayton Road, from 5pm to 7pm, and and there will be Bhangra and Gatka dance workshops from 2pm to 4pm.

Tickets are free and will be handed out on a first come first serve basis. To request one email community.development@harrow.gov.uk. Anyone who wants a place on a dance workshop must request one.

With thanks : source : harrowtimes.co.uk

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Thousands expected to be drawn to Surrey Vaisakhi festivities this weekend

Thousands more people are expected to be drawn to Surrey this weekend for Vaisakhi festivities celebrating the birth of the Sikh religion.

An estimated 50,000 people flooded streets surrounding Vancouver's Ross Street Temple last Saturday to observe one of the most important holidays on the Sikh calendar.

Because the Vancouver event was held a week earlier than usual, organizers of the Surrey parade and related events expect more people to be part of festivities here this Saturday (April 17).

"I think there will be more people out this year, because the Vancouver parade was held last weekend. Last year, it was held on the same day," said Pary Dulai, lead organizer of Saturday's Vaisakhi parade, said.

This is Dulai's fourth year as chief planner of Surrey's Vaisakhi festivities. A full day of action is promised, including nighttime fireworks (starting at 9 p.m.) and carnival rides on the grounds of Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar Temple, 12885 85th Ave.

The parade follows the same circular path through Newton as last year, along 128th Street, 76th Avenue, 124th Street and 82nd Avenue. The main stage area is located at 7750 128th St.

More businesses and organizations were keen to get involved in the parade this year, Dulai said.

"The Cloverdale Rodeo will have a float in it, for example, and horses," he said. "There are 20 parade entrants. It's more of a procession, though, with people joining in."

Every year in April, millions of Sikhs around the world celebrate the birth of the Sikh identity.

In Surrey, the parade and related events not only celebrate the Sikh faith, they embrace diversity and multiculturalism.

with thanks : source : vancouversun.com

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Sikhs to celebrate with parade Saturday in Carteret

Hundreds of Sikhs are expected to participate in the borough's fourth annual Sikh Day parade on Saturday, one of the town's most attended events, according to borough officials.

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that grew out of northern India about 500 years ago and now has approximately 26 million followers worldwide.Hardyal Singh Johal, chairman of the borough's Planning Board, said he was the first Sikh ever to move into Carteret, back in the early 1970s.

"This is like the birthday of our community," Johal said. "This is basically the most important day of the year for us. There is nothing better for us than this day." Saturday's event will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a ceremonial raising of the Sikh flag — named the Nishan Sahib — outside Borough Hall on Cooke Avenue. That will be followed by the parade.

Police Capt. Dennis McFadden said the approximately 1-mile parade will begin at Borough Hall, then proceed south on Pershing Avenue, turn right onto Washington Avenue and left onto Cyprus Street before ending at Carteret Park at the corner of Cyprus Street and Carteret Avenue.

The parade, Johal said, is expected to last about 45 minutes, adding that freshly-cooked vegetarian food will be served at the event. He expects at least 1,000 people from Carteret and other neighboring communities to join in the festivities.

Mayor Daniel Reiman estimated that more than 1,500 Sikhs live in Carteret.

"This is certainly an important event for the Sikh community and for those in the Sikh faith," he said. "This certainly gives us the opportunity to highlight their contributions to our local community and society in general."

Woodbridge-based Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar, located on Port Reading Avenue, is sponsoring the parade.

with thanks : source : mycentraljercy.com

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Carter to welcome Sikh holy texts

Friday, 16 April 2010,
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Chris Carter

Ethnic Affairs spokesperson

Labour’s Ethnic Affairs Spokesperson Chris Carter will join the Sikh community tomorrow in Auckland to welcome the holiest texts of the Sikh religion to New Zealand.

The Guru Granth Sahib is a collection of documents compiled by gurus (teachers and leaders) of the Sikh religion between 1469 and 1708. The documents are touring Australia and New Zealand before returning to their home at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India.

Chris Carter said being entrusted with these documents is a tremendous source of pride for New Zealand’s 10,000 Sikhs. Some of the pages are more than half a millennium old, and Sikhs seeing them with their own eyes will feel equivalent to a Christian seeing the first Bible or a Muslim seeing the first Qur’an.

The Guru Grant Sahib’s arrival coincides with celebrations to mark Vaisakhi, the Punjabi New Year. The documents will be escorted by a 45-strong delegation from Melbourne, and will arrive at Auckland International Airport on NZ124 at 5:25pm tomorrow. The organisers of the tour, the New Zealand Sikh Society Auckland and the Supreme Sikh Council of New Zealand, welcome all media organisations to witness this historic event.

“I would like to congratulate New Zealand’s Sikh community on receiving the Guru Granth Sahib,” Chris Carter said. “This honour demonstrates how New Zealand is known throughout the world as a country which respects its minority religions, and is a real opportunity for New Zealand’s Sikh community to showcase their ancient culture and religion.”

With thanks : scoop.co.nz

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Sikhs celebrate Baisakhi at Nankana Sahib

Pak SGPC rejects amendments in Nanakshahi Calendar

The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) on Wednesday rejected the recent amendments in the Nanakshahi calendar by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Akal Takht. The announcement was made before at least 10,000 Sikhs at Nankana Sahib Gurdwara near Lahore in Pakistan, who had gathered to celebrate Baisakhi. American Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee head Dr Pritpal Singh told The Indian Express from Pakistan that they had already rejected the changes made and PSGPC also followed. “There had been strong resentments against the SGPC for bringing changes in the calendar adopted by majority of the Sikhs since 2003. Now, PSGPC chief Sham Singh has also rejected the amendments and they will continue to observe the gurpurabs according to the older calendar,” he said.

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With thanks : source : IndianExpress

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Baisakhi Greetings

Wishing you a very Happy Baisakhi

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World Turban Day

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Thousands of Sikhs return to the fold on World Turban Day

Thousands of Sikh men, each with a unique work of art perched on his head, will take to the streets of India today. Their mission: to prove to the world that the turban is not old hat.

Scores of rallies, prayer vigils and tying competitions will mark World Turban Day, an event conceived amid concerns that young Sikhs are abandoning the most conspicuous emblem of their faith — six to eight metres of cloth wrapped around their heads — in favour of close-cropped Western-style hairdos.

“We are inviting Sikhs who have forsaken the turban to return to the fold,” said Jaswinder Singh of the Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj (Army of God), a Turban Pride movement. “This day is their chance to reconnect with our gurus.”

Sikh men — and some women — have worn turbans since 1699 when Guru Gobind Singh, the religion’s tenth master, prohibited them from cutting their hair. Every man was given the surname Singh — lion — and was required to wear a steel bangle, long cotton underwear, a sheathed sword and wooden comb.

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With thanks : source : timesonline

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World Sikh Convention: Debar Jathedars of Takht Patna Sahib and Takht Hazoor Sahib

Sikh body urges govt for withdrawal of blacklist

NEW DELHI: The World Sikh Convention in New Delhi sought to debar the Jathedars of Takht Patna Sahib and Takht Hazoor Sahib from participation in clergy meetings convened to deliberate on panthic matters till they shun the practice of adorning the controversial Dasam Granth parallel to Guru Granth Sahib.

Representatives of several Panthic Bodies from India and 31 representatives from US, Canada, UK, Belgium, Sweden and Pakistan took part in the conference on Sunday.

Representatives of an international Sikh body appealed to the government to do away with the blacklist that debarred some Sikhs from entering the country.

They made the demand in a resolution adopted at the World Sikh Convention that ended with an open session at Rakabganj Gurdwara here on Sunday. The delegates contended that the list had no relevance any longer as the Khalistan agitation was over in Punjab long ago.

“The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara managing committee should take up the issue with the Indian government,” said Kuldeep Singh from New York, adding that the blacklist was also coming in the way of those having similar names getting the Indian visa.

Punjabis in the country must register Punjabi as their mother tongue in the ongoing national census, it said.

Delegates also appealed to Sikhs across the globe to continue to observe all the ceremonies in accordance with the unchanged version of the Nanakshahi calendar and changes that have been introduced now should not be accepted.

The conference formulated a committee to finalise the criteria of appointing the Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht as well as the mode of retirement, qualifications, sphere of authority, working conditions.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara management committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna said, “We strongly condemn the ban on turbans in France and other Sikh code of conduct in other countries and demand that the Indian government protect the interests of NRI Sikhs and provide them dual citizenship.”

The convention also passed a resolution against the capital punishment awarded to Davinderpal Singh Bhullar in the case relating to the attack on youth Congress leader MS Bhitta and sought its revocation.

With thanks : punjabnewsline

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Sikh pilgrims must have visa for sites they want to visit: Pak

LAHORE: Pakistani authorities have imposed a ban on the travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to places for which they do not possess a visa, as 1,400 devotees arrived here to take part in celebrations marking the Baisakhi festival.

The Home Department of Punjab province banned such travel by issuing an official circular, official sources said on Monday.

The circular was sent to the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) which looks after shrines of minority communities and organises pilgrimages to such sites, and to law enforcement agencies. The circular stated it was the duty of authorities "to provide all facilities and protection to the Sikh yatris (pilgrims). But it is important for their (Sikhs') protection to disallow them to visit places for which they are not issued visa by the Pakistan High Commission in India."

Law enforcement agencies and the ETPB were asked by the Home Department to enforce the ban at any cost.

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With thanks : Source : Times of India

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