12 thoughts on “Photos: Vaisakhi in Southall

  1. These (very nice) photos show Vaisakhi as a Sikh festival–let’s keep in mind it’s also the solar new year festival observed by Hindus from the Punjab to Tamils.

  2. Puthandu Vaazhthukkal. Happy New year to all the states in India that follow the Solar Calendar.

    The Tamil New Year follows the Nirayanam vernal equinox and generally falls on April 14 of the Gregorian year. April 14th marks the first day of the traditional Tamil calendar and is a public holiday in both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Tropical vernal equinox fall around 22 March, and adding 23 degrees of trepidation or oscillation to it, we get the Hindu sidereal or Nirayana Mesha Sankranti (Sun’s transition into Nirayana Aries). Hence, the Tamil calendar begins on the same date observed by most traditional calendars in India as in Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Tripura etc not to mention Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The 60-year cycle is ancient and is observed by most traditional calendars of India and China, and is related to 5 revolutions of Jupiter, or to 60-year orbit of Nakshatras (stars) as described in the Surya Siddhanta.
  3. As a Tamil married to a Bengali – it is Shubho Naboborsho and Putthandu VazhthukkaL and everything else!

  4. ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ ਜੀ ਵਸਾਖੀ ਦੀ ਲਖ ਲਖ ਵਧਾਏਆਂ ਔਰ ਖੁਸ਼ੀਆਂ ਪੰਥ ਕੀ ਜੀਤ ਦੇਗ ਤੇਗ ਫਤਿਹ ਵਹੇਗੁਰੂਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਵਹੇਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫਤਿਹ

  5. “one of the largest Punjabi communities outside India.

    Actually, the largest Punjabi community in the world is in Pakistan. The author should have stated “one of the largest Sikh communities outside of India.”

  6. These (very nice) photos show Vaisakhi as a Sikh festival–let’s keep in mind it’s also the solar new year festival observed by Hindus from the Punjab to Tamils

    Yes, but Vaisakhi has a very specific religious importance in Sikhism that distinguishes it from other cultural celebrations of the season.

    Nice pictures by the way Preston, mate.

  7. Great pics. The Sardars have truly conquered Britain…hard to believe it isn’t some (unusually neat and clean) Indian town looking at the pics