Religious Affairs Office

Sikhism was founded in the late 15th century, a monotheistic religion that emerged in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent within a Hindu context, under the Islamic rule of the Delhi sultanate. The Sikh era, or year zero of Sikhism, dates back to 1469, the year of the birth of its founder, Guru Nanak. Both he and his main successors followed the Hindu lunisolar calendar known as Vikrami. However, Sikhs also accept another year as the founding year, 1699, the year in which Guru Gobind Singh created the khalsa. As is known, the khalsa represents the Sikh community most committed to the code of conduct (rahit) and who have been initiated through the ceremony of amrit sanskar.

 

LOVE POEMS BASED AROUND THE MONTHS

Guru Nanak changed the names of the twelve months of the Vikrami calendar. This change was followed by all his main new successors. The holy book of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains two love poems (barah maha) which use the symbolism of the months to express the relationship between the soul (bride) and its yearning for the divine (bridegroom). This literary form was already known and practised by Hindus and Muslims.

The year begins with the month of chet, in which the harvest arrives and the bride meets the bridegroom; the month of vaisakhi is dedicated to trade and to the conversations between the two lovers; the month of jeth brings heat and the lovers have their first intimate encounters; in the month of harh they seek cool and shade, metaphors for serenity and inner peace; in the month of sawan the first rains arrive and the bride cries as she is separated from the bridegroom; in the month of bhadon the rivers are full and comparisons are made with the plenitude of love; in the month of Assu the passing of time and the loss of youth are lamented; in the month of katak the days are short and the lamps that bring light are lit; in the month of maghar there is a celebration of music, singing and the arts as expressions of divine beauty; the month of poh sees the arrival of the snow which covers everything in a pure white blanket; the month of magh is for journeys and pilgrimages; with the month of fagun the year ends and a comparison is made with the extinction of the soul in God.

 

THE NANAKSHAHI CALENDAR

At the end of the 20th century, Pal Singh Purewal, a Canadian engineer of Indian origin, proposed a substantial change to the Vikrami calendar and he called it Nanakshahi. The main changes consisted of no longer using lunar calculations and conforming to the length of the tropical solar year. The most immediate consequences were that the new calendar did not require the addition of intercalary months to adapt the solar cycle to the lunar cycle, and the festivals would take place on specific, fixed dates.

The invention of this new calendar caused great uproar and various Sikh communities (gurudwaras) around the world set up review committees that demanded the return to the Vikrami calendar, above all to be able to continue binding festivals to the original lunisolar dates. The great diversity within Sikhism, which is rarely recognised, has made it almost impossible to reach a unanimous agreement on using a single calendar.

The Nanakshahi calendar is closer to the Gregorian calendar, except that the months begin with the full moon. Sikhs that follow this calendar add a day to the last month of the leap year.

 

SIKH FESTIVALS

The majority of Sikh festivals revolve around the birth and confirmation of the gurus (gurupurabs). The two big exceptions are the festival of the month of vaisakhi, which commemorates the creation of the khalsa, mentioned above, and the twelve festivals of sangrand, which are held on the first day of each month.

Of all the gurupurabs, the most famous is the anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak.  There are doubts about the exact date of his birth. Some say that he was born during the month of vaisakhi (March/April) and others suggest the month of  katak (October/November).

Not all the festivals are shared. Each sect of Sikhism (sampardaya or daira) also has its own festivals dedicated to remembering key dates in their lineage or other traditions. For example, only the ravidassia sikh sect celebrates with veneration the birth of Guru Ravidas. More extreme examples include the Sikh sects of the udashis and nirmalas, which are so close to Hinduism that they even accept some of its festivals. The same happens with the most modern Sikh sect of the ridvanis in relation to the Bahai faith.

Sikh festivals are usually prepared over a number of days with long readings of Guru Granth Sahib. When the day of the celebration arrives, the gurudwaras are lit up and the holy book is taken out on a procession through the city (nagar kirtan), headed by the five-strong guard of honour, flags, martial arts demonstrations, religious music groups and recitals of holy hymns.