Guru Nanak Gurpurab

Guru Nanak Gurpurab celebrates the birth of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and founder of the Sikh spiritual tradition. Born in the Punjab region in the fifteenth century, Nanak questioned divisions of caste, status and empty religious formalism, teaching remembrance of the One Divine, honest livelihood and sharing with others. Sikh tradition remembers his long journeys, or udasis, during which he conversed with people of different faiths and challenged practices that had lost their ethical meaning. His hymns combine devotion with a direct concern for justice, humility and truthful living, and many are preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib. Gurpurab celebrations include Akhand Path, kirtan, processions, seva and langar where people sit and eat together without social distinction. The day honours a faith in which devotion is tested in everyday conduct and service.

Guru Nanak Gurpurab is significant to the community that observes it and helps preserve religious, family and cultural continuity.

The akhand path - the whole Guru Granth Sahib read aloud without a break - finishes on the morning of the day, having started forty-eight hours before. A nagar kirtan goes through the streets the day before, led by five, and langar is served to everyone who comes. Gujarat's gurdwaras keep it the same way Punjab's do.

Kept on Kartik Purnima wherever there is a gurdwara, with Nankana Sahib in Pakistan - the birthplace itself - opened for pilgrims from India each year. Punjab and Delhi keep prabhat pheris for the fortnight before.