Vaisakhi procession attracts thousands of people in Vancouver

Music, food and colorful parade floats filled the streets of South Vancouver Saturday as thousands gathered to celebrate Visakhi, an important religious holiday in the sick faith. It marks the revelation of the calsa, the first harvest and the coming of a new year. For me, we’re talking about uniting the people standing up for what’s right, standing up for common sense. Building a better Canada. However, some sick community members say the City of Vancouver misrepresented the holiday in its parade announcement, failing to mention that Vasaki is a religious celebration in the Sikh faith. Vancouver Mayor Ken SIM referred to Vasaki as a cultural celebration for the South Asian community. And earlier this week, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke came under fire for calling her city’s Visakhi parade a large party during a press conference. The City of Vancouver has since apologized. We expect better from the City of Vancouver to know what is the history of it and what is the heritage behind Visakhi. It starts from a place of worship and ends back at a place of worship, and it’s led by the Sikh community. But it’s not a party, it’s not a festival. It’s a spiritual celebration. The parade has a long history in the City of Vancouver starting in 1979. And at the time, it was the only one in North America. Now it’s spread to communities across the continent. And we sink, eat, then we share food. We serve the community. An important part of the festivities is the act of langar, or the practice of giving free food to the community. We are just throwing us in the pagodas basin we call basin, which may make from chickpea flour, chickpea flour and it’s a sweet few people. They work all night to make this food parade. Organisers estimate around 200,000 people came out to celebrate. Among them were Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poliev and Premier David EB. Well, I’m so glad to be here. The sun’s shining. It’s an important religious celebration for the sick community and for the broader community, a chance for us all to reflect on the contributions of people of the sick faith here in British Columbia. And the festivities are far from over. A much larger Vasaki parade will take place next Saturday in Surrey. Michelle Gomez, CBC News, Vancouver.