Gurupurab Festival

|Celebrations | Legend |

Anniversaries associates with live of Sikh Gurus are referred to as Gurpurabs

Gurpurab literally means 'festival of the guru'. The Sikhs celebrate 10 Gurpurabs in a year.All Gurpurabs are considered auspicious and important but special significance is accorded to the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, which falls in the month of Kartik (October / November).

The Moolmantra For Sikhs

Celebrations for Gurupurab Festival

The celebration is generally similar for all Gurpurabs; only the hymns and history of a particular occasion is different.

All Gurpurabs are considered auspicious and important but special significance is accorded to the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, as the  Sikhs believe that Guru Nanak brought enlightenment to the world, hence the festival is also called Prakash Utsav, the festival of light.

Fifteen days before the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, celebrations begin. Religious processions called Prabhat Pheris are taken from house to house by singing shabads (hymns).

These pheris generally start three weeks before the festival. Devotees offer sweets and tea when the procession passes by their homes. A day before the festival, an enormous parade starts from the gurdwara in the afternoon.

The celebrations start with the three-day akhand path, in which the Guru Granth Sahib (the holy book of the Sikhs) is read continuously from beginning to end without a break.

Conclusion of the reading coincides with the day of the festival.

The Granth Sahib is also carried in procession on a float decorated with flowers throughout the village or city.

Five armed guards, who represent the Panj Pyares, head the procession carrying Nishan Sahibs (the Sikh flag).

Local bands play religious music and marching schoolchildren form a special part of the procession.

As they weave their way through the markets and residential areas of the city, people come forward to seek the blessings of the

Panj Pyaras (Five Beloved Ones) , by prostrating themselves before the priests.

The procession gives an opportunity even to the old and the infirm to pay homage to the Guru Grantha Sahib before it winds its way back to the temple.

Sikhs visit gurdwaras (Sikh temples) where special programmes are arranged and kirtans (religious songs) sung.

Local volunteers serve it with a spirit of seva (service) and bhakti (devotion).

At night Sikhs illuminate and decorate their houses and Gurdwaras with candles and electric lights.

On the martyrdom of Guru Arjun Dev kachi lassi (sweetened milk) is offered to the thirsty passers-by to commemorate the death of the Guru who was burnt to death during the hot months of May and June.