TAXILA: Thousands of people in Sandwell performed rituals to celebrate the 548th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism, Baba Guru Nanak, at the Gurdwara Punja Sahib Hassanabdal on Thursday.

The celebrations began early in the morning, when hundreds of pilgrims bathed in the gurdwara’s holy pond.

The gurdwara was lit up and decorated with flowers, banners, flags and posters depicting Sikh rituals, and several congregations were held to recall Baba Guru Nanak’s message of peace, love and brotherhood.

Free sweets and langar, community lunches, were also offered irrespective of religious orientation. Men, women and children participated in the karseva as service to the community, in which they prepared food and distributed it in the Guru ka Langar.

Devotees also visited gurdwaras for special programmes, and religious songs, known as kirtan were sung.

Indian Sikh yatrees and Hindu devotees travelled to Hassanabdal in large numbers for the celebration, as they do for various religious occasions several times a year. A number of pilgrims also came from other parts of the country, such as Buner, Fata, Swat and interior Sindh.

The concluding ceremony was attended by hundreds of Sikh yatrees and over 2000 Indian pilgrims, who recited from their sacred text.

Due to the cold weather, some Indian Sikh pilgrims, mostly senior citizens, contracted the flu, a chest infection or a fever. They visited the medical centre set up in the temple for the necessary medication, and the pilgrims left for Lahore on special trains to the Gurdwara Dera Sahib, from where they will travel to India.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2016