Tomorrow - 14 April- it will be the Sikhs' New Year, noted also with the name of Vaisakhi.
The celebrations are extended all around the World, where a sikh community is present.
Also here, in Italy, there are a lot of these celebrations, because there are more than 70000 Sikhs and it's the second largest community in Europe, after the one in England. I'd like to show you these beautiful feast, that is celebrating by praying, dancing, eating together, expressing the joy of life that is renewed by wearing new and colorful clothes.
Vaisakhi is also a spring harvest festival for the Sikhs and marks the foundation of the Khalsa community of Sikhs on April 13, 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh.
Guru Gobind Singh was the 10th and last leader of the Sikhs, and that day, with his sword in his hand, he asked the crowd of faithful who had gathered around him, who was ready to sacrifice his life in the name of the Sikh faith - until that moment it was a religion based on tolerance and universal brotherhood, but in danger of extinction due to the continuous attacks and genocide by Mogul and Muslim rulers. Five fearless men came forward. Guru Gobind Singh baptized them into knights with the title of Singh (lion) and the five went down in history as the Panj Pyare, the five beloved.
Guru Gobin Singh also declared that there would be no more another guru after him. The leader of the Sikhs after his death would be the sacred book Guru Granth Sahib, revered and read in the Sikh temples (gurdwara) around the world.
So, on Vaisakhi morning, the faithful pray in the gurdwaras (the Sikh temples), and then pour out into the streets to celebrate.
In the streets, it's full of colors, tfrom orange, which the characteristic color symbol of this faith up to blue, passing through yellow and white. Flower petals, garlands, make the air fragrant and sparkling.
The Guru Granth, the sacred book, is carried in procession on a cart by ten volunteers protectors of the sacred book, with unsheathed swords and with the orange flags of the Khanda, the symbol of the Sikh relic, and the procession looks like a colorful carnival, with bhangra dances.
The women sweep the asphalt before the passage of the sacred chariot, followed by the faithful, all in line, with barefoot, as tradition dictates, as a sign of purity.
Happy Vaisakhi , may the spring sikh make spring sprout in your hearts!