Celebrating Vaisakhi in Canada

This year, Vaisakhi, the holiest day of the year in the Sikh faith, falls on April 14.

Vaisakhi is a spring harvest festival originating in the Punjab region of Northern India. On this day, the Sikh community celebrates both the arrival of spring and the creation of Sikhism as a collective faith by Guru Gobind Singh Ji during the festival in 1699.

To celebrate Vaisakhi, Sikhs traditionally visit places of worship called gurdwaras and gather to pray and read from sacred texts. Many will also organize and partake in religious processions and parades called Nagar Kirtans. Traditionally, participants wear colourful clothing, sing, dance, chant hymns and share food according to the tradition of langar. In Punjabi, the predominant language spoken by Sikhs, “nagar” means “town” and “kirtan” means “the singing of hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib,” the Sikh holy book. In the 2021 Census, 942,170 people reported knowledge of Punjabi.

While small, the proportion of Canada’s population who reported being Sikh has more than doubled in 20 years. From 2001 to 2021, this proportion rose from 0.9% to 2.1%. About 770,000 people reported Sikhism as their religion in the 2021 Census.

Immigration is one of the key drivers of non-Christian religions in Canada. Of the Canadians who reported Sikhism as their religion, 53.8% are immigrants. Overall, 18.4% of Sikhs are immigrants who were admitted from 2011 to 2021.

To all those celebrating, Happy Vaisakhi!