On April 13th 2021 Sikhs in the UK and all over the world celebrated Vaisakhi. At Leicestershire Cares staff from the Community Development and YES Project honoured and celebrated Vaisakhi by distributing 100 tubs of Kheer (Indian rice pudding) and Punjabi curries to food banks Belgrave Playhouse and Wesley Hall.
Thank you Hum Sath Sewa Leicester and Midland Langar Seva Society for supporting us with this, the food was delicious and much appreciated.
Vaisakhi is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar and marks the year Sikhism was born as a collective faith. In 1699 the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, chose Vaisakhi as the occasion to transform the Sikhs into a family of soldier saints, known as the Khalsa Panth. Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa in front of thousands at Anandpur Sahib. Vaisakhi is marked with nagar kirtan processions: which are processions through the streets (nagar means "town") and forms an important part of Sikh culture and religious celebrations. Kirtan is a term meaning the singing of hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
This year Vaisakhi felt more special as Ramadan and Chaitra Navratri fell on the same day. There is a feeling of unity that these religious festivals fell on the same day.
