Members of Grande Prairie’s Sikh community have gathered to celebrate the 550th birthday of their religion’s founder. Over 200 people were at Gurdwara Sahib in Grande Prairie on November 17th to sing, eat and honour the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Member Satbir Baidwan says Guru Nanak really pushed the message of tolerance and equality between all members of the community and that’s what they are here to celebrate.
“The time when he was born, society was divided by caste, colour, creed and everything… So he came with the slogan that all human beings are created equal and human beings have no right to divide or treat them based on their caste, colour, gender or creed.”
The event is held every year and begins with members getting together to read the holy book from start to finish. This year, members also provided free meals to people at both Rotary House and The Salvation Army as a way of giving back to the community.
The event ended on Sunday with a large celebration at the temple followed by a special meal.
Baidwan says one of the biggest parts of the final celebration involves getting the younger members of the group to speak and sing songs. The group has a Sunday school program where children learn things like how to speak Punjabi.
He adds that if they didn’t do that, their religion may one day be lost.
“We’re not going to stay forever and these are the ones who are going to take over from us. To teach them the Sikh ideology, the Sikh principals and the fundamentals of Sikh we try to gather and teach our kids Punjabi and about the history. If we don’t teach them, two generations from now we won’t exist.”
Gurdwara Sahib temple has been around in Grande Prairie since 1985.