(Photo 189368915 © Abdul Shakoor | Dreamstime.com)

By Derek Craddock

VAISAKHI MELA

Hundreds flocking to P.A. for Vaisakhi Mela celebration

Apr 26, 2024 | 10:47 AM

One of the biggest celebrations on the Sikh calendar will bring hundreds of people to Prince Albert on Friday in what will be a first-of-its-kind event in the city.

Vaisakhi is a spring harvest festival celebrated in Punjab and parts of Northern India and is traditionally marked on the 14th of April.

It marks a change of season and the beginning of new crops and turns the calendar on another year.

“This is a kind of a New Year for our community,” said Hargun Singh with Akaal Entertainment, who along with Paramveer Singh, is organizing a Vaisakhi Mela celebration in P.A.

While the new year happens in the middle of the month, Vaisakhi is celebrated throughout April with Singh saying they wanted to host a major celebration on a weekend.

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(City of Prince Albert)

Vaisakhi also observes many significant events in the history of Sikhism including the birth of the Khalsa order by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhism in 1699. Gobind Singh was the last human guru of the Sikh faith as he passed on the religion’s teachings to the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scriptures.

All those occasions will be marked in scenes of colour and culture on Friday with the Vaisakhi Mela at the EA Rawlinson Centre.

What makes this event special is the number of people expected to fill the centre, with believers from Regina, Saskatoon, and other cities making their trip to P.A.

Singh said they are also excited to have Indian pop music start Prabh Gill perform.

“He has more than 3 million followers [on Instagram]. He’s a really big artist of our community and he’s coming for the first time in Saskatchewan and it’s in Prince Albert.”

Tickets for the Vaisakhi Mela are still available with the festivities starting at 7 p.m.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com