Saturday, April 17, 2010

Watford's Sikh community to celebrate

Members of the town’s Sikh community will come together tomorrow to celebrate one of their most important festivals of the year.

They will be joined at the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Temple, in Kings Close, by Mayor Dorothy Thornhill, MP Claire Ward, and Parliamentary candidates Richard Harrington and Sal Brinton.

The Vaisakhi celebrations will take place between 11am and 1pm.
With thanks source in the link above in headline.
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Friday, April 16, 2010

Sikh pilgrim dies in Pakistan, body repatriated to India

ATTARI (AMRITSAR): Body of Indian national Sikh pilgrim who died in historic Sikh shrine in Panja Sahib at Hasanabdal in Pakistan has been repatriated in the evening to India here Thursday through the land transit route of Attari border.

According to the official at Attari border, Harnek Singh (78) died due to massive heart attack suffered inside the Gurdwara premises. Yesterday morning Harnek complained uneasiness in his chest, whereupon his wife who was with him raised alarm for medical help, but immediate after he was declared dead by the medical officer who was present in the medical camp organized in the preemies of Sikh shrine by Pakistan Authorities.

Official informed that Harnek Singh a Indian national resident of Ludhiana district of Punjab went to Pakistan with his family members along with the group of 1300 Sikhs to Pakistan few days ago on April 11 to Pakistan through three special trains from the International Attari Railway Station to observe Baisakhi festival.

Body of Harnek was brought to India by his wife Nachhatar Kaur besides other family relatives who were with him in pilgrimage to Pakistan.

With thanks : source : Punjabnewsline

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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

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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Thursday, April 15, 2010

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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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

World Turban Day

with thanks : youtube

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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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