Month-long projects to mark Vesakhi

As Covid-19 restrictions are eased, religious communities are cautiously opening up and returning to communal traditions as they mark significant events in the year.

The Sikh community in Singapore has lined up a month-long slate of initiatives to mark Vesakhi, including a new push to get more women to take on community leadership roles.

On Thursday (April 14), which is Vesakhi, celebrations began with the culmination of a three-day-long congregational prayer at the Sri Guru Singh Sabha temple in Wilkie Road.

Vesakhi marks a key event in the establishment of the Sikh religion and identity - the birth of the Khalsa or concept of a Sikh community instituted by Guru Gobind 
Singh in 1699.

This year's Vesakhi festivities kicked off last Saturday with the light-up of Geylang Lorong 29 - the home of one of the seven gurdwaras, or Sikh temples, in Singapore. They will come to a close with a cultural and sporting event at the Singapore Khalsa Association on April 30.

There are about 12,000 Sikhs in Singapore, and Vesakhi celebrations are back in high gear this year after muted festivities over the past two years amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Deep Singh, president of the Pardesi Khalsa Dharmak Diwan temple in Geylang, said: "Now that measures are almost back to before for religious places of worship, we wanted to celebrate the festival of Vesakhi in a big way that will be memorable for everyone."

The Central Sikh Gurdwara Board also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National University of Singapore yesterday to set up a visiting professorship in Sikh studies.

It will be Asia’s first Sikh studies professorship outside the Indian subcontinent, said the board and NUS, and the board is aiming to raise $1.2 million for an endowment fund to support the visiting professorship. Donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Government. The professorship will start next year, with each term lasting five months.

Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How, who spoke at the MOU signing, said the visiting professorship is a major milestone for the Sikh community in Singapore. He added that it will elevate insights gained from Sikh history, philosophy and culture, and position Singapore as a major contributor to the growing discourse in inter-faith studies.

Correction note: An earlier version of this article wrongly described Vesakhi as the Sikh New Year. This is inaccurate. We are sorry for the error.