Thousands attend Vaisakhi festival

Originally posted on The Kelowna Courier by Andrea Peacock on Apr 30, 2016

See the original article here.

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A sea of colour filled Rutland on Saturday during the sixth annual Vaisakhi parade and festival.

The festival, hosted by the Okanagan Sikh Temple in Kelowna, is one of the most significant holidays in the Sikh religion.

“The main purpose of Vaisakhi is to celebrate the birth of the Khalsa, by Guru Gobind Singh, who baptized the first Sikhs,” said Amarjit Singh Lalli, member of the Okanagan Sikh Temple. “It is also harvest season in India.”

Guru Gobind Singh was the last of the 10 Sikh gurus. He was a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher who started the Khalsa (the Sikh nation) in 1699.

Last year’s Vaisakhi festival attracted roughly 5,000 people, and organizers were expecting upwards of 10,000 people this year.

“It’s fun, it’s colourful and there’s free food,” said Kelowna Coun. Mohini Singh.

The festival was attended by people from all over the valley, including Sikhs and people of different cultures and religions.

“This is the way Canada is supposed to be, with different backgrounds, different faiths and different people,” said Singh. “Multiculturalism is not just eating someone’s food and enjoying it; it’s also a day when you come together to celebrate and respect and honour someone else’s culture and traditions and really appreciate it.”

The parade kicked off at noon, leaving from the temple and weaving through the streets of Rutland.

Floats were entered by the Kelowna Punjabi School, the Penticton Temple and Indian Cultural Society and the Okanagan Sikh Temple and Cultural Society — among many others.

Thousands of woman in brightly coloured saris and men in turbans walked the streets in between the floats as part of the parade.

The Sikh Riders Club of Canada led the parade, with the Kelowna Pipe Band Society following behind.

“We love the colour, and the people are so nice,” said Joe Wadden, lead drummer of the pipe band. “They make us feel so welcome.”

Along with the parade, a stage was set up outside the temple for musical performances and dances. There were also various booths serving Indian food.

Inside the temple, members of the Sikh temple were reading the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Book.

“It’s a continuous reading from beginning to end,” said Lalli. “They started on Friday around 10 a.m., and it will end on Sunday around 10 a.m.”