Members of the Sikh community and Mayor Joshua Garcia pose with the proclamation.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
HOLYOKE — A Sikh flag raising ceremony was hosted on April 1 at Holyoke City Hall to celebrate Vaisakhi, which marks the beginning of the New Year and honors the creation of the Khalsa and the Sikh articles of faith.
These articles impart the values of equality, selfless service, and social justice. Vaisakhi is a festival hosted on April 13 for Sikhs to acknowledge the people of India.
With April being a significant month for the Sikh community, the ceremony included the reading of a proclamation by Mayor Joshua A. Garcia, members of the local and regional Sikh community offering prayers and ended with a flag raising.
Planning Board Secretary Gurninder Dhaliwal thanked the mayor for allowing him and the Sikh community to kick off their celebration in the city.
The Sikh community has celebrated Vaisakhi with a parade in the U.S. for 37 years and for the last 15 years, it has started in Holyoke.
Dhaliwal said they start in Holyoke and then go “all over.”
He further explained, “Everybody’s been so good to us every year and you guys recognize everything. [We’re] very proud. Holyoke city is the first city I think in America, it’s done every year on the first because the whole month there are programs all over even [Washington] D.C., New York City but Holyoke is always number one.”
Sikhism, which originated in the Punjab region of South Asia, is the fifth largest independent ethnic religion in the world. More than 700,000 Sikhs reside in the United States.
The movement to recognize Sikh Heritage Month began with the aim of commemorating and celebrating the rich heritage, history, culture and contributions of Sikhs.
Garcia acknowledged that Holyoke is a city of 30,000 residents but “this little city recognizes, probably the first planned industrial city in the United States, that firmly, firmly believe in the values of what it means to live in the United States and to be an American. We’re an immigrant and migrant community and also a community that is very, very accepting of all faiths and religions to be practiced here.”
He also said that growing up in the city, “we’ve always extended a hand of kindness to bring in instead of call out and this is a moment and time we need to come together as human beings and continue to support each other under the name of the values that we live up to just living here in the United States.”
