Prince George: Vaisakhi
Today I attended the parade and festival celebrating Vaisakhi for the Sikh faith. I've posted more pictures on my flickr page with the parade pictures.
Despite the recent cold snap in weather there were several hundred parade participants who braved the -10C to celebrate Vaisakhi. Everyone gathered after the parade at the CN Centre parking lot where lots of food and hot beverages were served out.
There was quite a few public speakers and a really excellent explanation of what exactly Vaisakhi is and a summary of the creation of Khalsa.
I had the opportunity to speak to several of the local Sikh gentlemen who not only expanded on the speech but told me a great deal about politics in regards to the temples.
Down south in Surrey you might have heard about how some Sikh members had photographs displayed in an idolizing manner to some men allegedly connected with the Air India bombing. This has caused some strained relations between some political figures who want to disassociate themselves with that aspect of the festival.
If you speak to the average Sikh however I think you will find that there is no support of violence or malice held to anyone and that any true Sikh who takes their spirituality and religion to heart wouldn't be a part of any violent act against any person.
I had a really enjoyable time at the festival and despite the cold weather it was quite a good turn out of people though I thought that there was an under representation of non-Sikh's at the festivities.
I think these type of events are good to help people understand other religions and help build that multicultural family that is Canada.
Despite the recent cold snap in weather there were several hundred parade participants who braved the -10C to celebrate Vaisakhi. Everyone gathered after the parade at the CN Centre parking lot where lots of food and hot beverages were served out.
There was quite a few public speakers and a really excellent explanation of what exactly Vaisakhi is and a summary of the creation of Khalsa.
I had the opportunity to speak to several of the local Sikh gentlemen who not only expanded on the speech but told me a great deal about politics in regards to the temples.
Down south in Surrey you might have heard about how some Sikh members had photographs displayed in an idolizing manner to some men allegedly connected with the Air India bombing. This has caused some strained relations between some political figures who want to disassociate themselves with that aspect of the festival.
If you speak to the average Sikh however I think you will find that there is no support of violence or malice held to anyone and that any true Sikh who takes their spirituality and religion to heart wouldn't be a part of any violent act against any person.
I had a really enjoyable time at the festival and despite the cold weather it was quite a good turn out of people though I thought that there was an under representation of non-Sikh's at the festivities.
I think these type of events are good to help people understand other religions and help build that multicultural family that is Canada.
