Guru Nanak Gurpurab

Guru Nanak Gurpurab celebrates the birth of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), the founder of Sikhism and first of its ten Gurus, and it is the most important of the gurpurabs, the festivals commemorating the Gurus. Nanak taught the oneness of God (Ik Onkar), the equality of all people regardless of caste, creed or gender, honest work, sharing with others, and constant remembrance of the divine Name; his life and hymns, gathered in the Sikh scripture, are the foundation of the tradition. Though he was born in the month of Kartik (Baisakh by some historical reckonings) in the village now called Nankana Sahib, in present-day Pakistan, the festival is by long convention kept on the full moon of Kartik (October-November).

Sikhs mark the day as the birthday of the one who first opened the path they follow, and it is observed by Sikh communities worldwide as the high point of the religious year, often with a scale and public visibility beyond the other gurpurabs. Its keeping is an affirmation not only of Nanak the person but of the message, of one God and one humanity, that he is understood to have brought.

The observance follows a settled pattern. It is preceded by the Akhand Path, an unbroken, continuous reading of the entire Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, from beginning to end over about forty-eight hours, completed on the morning of the gurpurab. The day before often brings a Nagar Kirtan, a procession through the streets led by the Panj Pyare (five chosen Sikhs representing the "beloved five") and the scripture carried on a decorated float, with the singing of hymns (kirtan), the display of gatka (Sikh martial arts), and banners; the whole neighbourhood is drawn in.

On the day itself the gurdwara holds continuous kirtan and the expounding of Nanak's teaching, and the langar, the free community kitchen that is central to Sikh practice, serves food to all who come, without distinction of religion, caste or status, an enactment of the equality Nanak preached. Homes and gurdwaras are illuminated, and in the evening lamps and, in many places, fireworks are lit. The combination, an unbroken reading of the whole scripture, a public procession, congregational singing, and above all the open kitchen feeding everyone alike, expresses in a single day the core of what Guru Nanak taught: devotion to the Name, service, and the equal worth of every person.