Baisakhi
Baisakhi celebrates in Punjab as New Year's Day with joy music and dance. It falls on April 13, though once in 36 years it occurs on 14th April. It was on this day that the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, founded the Khalsa (the Sikh brotherhood) in 1699. The Sikhs, therefore, celebrate this festival as a collective birthday.
sikhs visits gurdwaras (Sikh temples) and listen to kirtans (religious songs) and discourses. After the prayer, kada prasad (sweetened semolina) is served to the congregation. The function ends with langar, the community lunch served by volunteers.
Tika
Tika is celebrated in the month of Kartik (Oct-Nov.) one day after Diwali. Women put a tika of saffron and rice grains on the foreheads of their brothers, to protect them from evil.
Lohri
Like most other festivals of Punjab and Haryana, Lohri too is a festival related to the seasons. Celebrated in the month of Pausa (December-January), it marks the end of the winter season. On this occasion, children go from home to home, singing popular Lohri folk songs and collect money. In the evening people gather together and light bonfires. They throw in sweets made from sugar and til, crispies etc. and sing songs. The joyous festivities assume a greater fervor on the birth of a child. Lohri is celebrated both in Punjab and Haryana.
Golden Temple
This temple is considered to be the holiest of all the pilgrimages of Sikhism and houses Akal Takht, the supreme governing body of Sikhism. The Jalianwallah Bagh is a small park in the city where the British police massacred many pilgrims in the year 1919.
Yadavendra Garden
The Yadavendra Gardens 24 kilometers on the Shimla road at Pinjore has charming Mughal style terraced lawns, flower beds, fountains, water channels and airy pavilions enclosed by high walls swathed in the mauve and magenta bougainvillea. |