Baisakhi or Vaisakhi marks the beginning of the new spring year and the end of the harvest of rabi crop in India. The festival is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm in agriculture domi

nated state of Punjab and Haryana. Here, farmers thank God for the bountiful harvest and pray for prosperity in the coming year. To celebrate the day, people wake up early and take a dip in the holy rivers

The auspicious festival of Baisakhi is celebrated on first day of Vaisakh month (April-May) according to the Nanakshahi calendar. Hence, the festival of Baisakhi is also popularly known as Vaisakhi. According to Gregorian Calendar, Baisakhi falls on April 13 every year and on April 14 once in 36 years. This variation in date is due to the fact that date of Baisakhi is reckoned according to the Indian solar calendar and not the lunar calendar.

The date of Baisakhi festival has tremendous significance in Sikhism. They celebrate the festival as a collective birthday of the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh and the foundation of the Khalsa (the Sikh brotherhood) in 1699. Sikhs all over the world celebrate the day with lot of enthusiasm and joy.

For the Buddhist, the day of Baisakhi Festival is significant, as according to a popular legend it was on this auspicious day that Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment or Nirvana under the Mahabodhi tree in the town of Gaya. For this reason, the day of Baisakhi is celebrated as Buddha Purnima is several parts of the country.

The date of Baisakhi also has major astrological significance as it marks the sun’s entry into Mesh Rashi. Some people therefore know Baisakhi as Mesha Sankranti.

The auspicious date of Baisakhi is also celebrated as ‘Rongali Bihu’ in Assam, ‘Naba Barsha’ in Bengal, ‘Puthandu’ in Tamil Nadu, ‘Pooram Vishu’ in Kerala and ‘Vaishakha’ in Bihar

REFRENCE:

RABI CROP: The crops that are sown in the winter season are called Rabi crops. (also known as the “winter crop”) in  India. Crops that are grown in the winter season, from November to April are called Rabi Crops. Some of the important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.

GREGORIAN CALENDAR: The Gregorian calendar is the calendar in current use in the Western world, both as the civil and Christian ecclesiastical calendar. Instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, the calendar has 365 days with an extra day every four years (the leap year) except in years divisible by 100 but not divisible by 400. Thus, the calendar year has an average length of 365.2422 days. The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar , which had become 10 days out of synchrony with the solar cycle.

NANAKSHAHI CALENDER: The Nanakshahi calendar is used only by Sikhs. It was created by Pal Singh Purewal to establish fixed dates for observing important Sikh commemorative events related to the history of the Sikh gurus which took place in ancient Punjab (North India). The Nanakshahi is a solar based calendar which begins in the middle of March. The Nanakshahi calendar year 0001 begins with the year of Guru Nanak’s birth in 1469 AD. The New Year begins on March 14th.