Festival · 2027
Baisakhi (Vaisakhi) 2027 — Wednesday, 14 April 2027
Baisakhi, or Vaisakhi, marks the Sun’s entry into Aries and the start of the solar month of Vaisakh; in Punjab it is the harvest festival and, for Sikhs, the day the Khalsa was founded.
In 2026
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
- Sunrise / sunset
- 5:56 AM / 6:46 PM
- Sankranti moment
- 9:32 AM
Rule: The day the Sun enters sidereal Aries (Mesha Sankranti) if before sunset, else the next day.
In 2027
Wednesday, 14 April 2027
- Sunrise / sunset
- 5:57 AM / 6:46 PM
- Sankranti moment
- 3:28 PM
Rule: The day the Sun enters sidereal Aries (Mesha Sankranti) if before sunset, else the next day.
Times follow New Delhi’s sunrise and sunset. In other cities the muhurat shifts by some minutes, and occasionally the day by one. Full festival calendar
What is Baisakhi (Vaisakhi)?
Baisakhi is a solar festival. It falls on Mesha Sankranti, the day the Sun enters sidereal Aries, which begins the solar month of Vaisakh and, in many Indian calendars, the solar new year. Because it follows the Sun and not the Moon, it moves very little in the civil calendar and usually comes in the middle of April. The same astronomical moment is celebrated across India under other names: Vishu in Kerala, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Pohela Boishakh in Bengal, Bohag Bihu in Assam and Pana Sankranti in Odisha.
In Punjab and Haryana Baisakhi is first of all a harvest festival. The rabi wheat stands golden and ready to be cut, and farmers give thanks for the crop before the harvest begins. Village fairs, wrestling, bhangra and giddha, new clothes and shared meals fill the day. The festival has long been a time for gathering, and fairs at places such as Talwandi Sabo and along riverbanks draw large crowds.
For Sikhs, Vaisakhi carries a deeper meaning. Sikh tradition records that Guru Amar Das asked the Sikhs to gather before the Guru at Vaisakhi, and in the late seventeenth century Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, chose the Vaisakhi gathering at Anandpur Sahib to found the Khalsa. Before the assembled congregation he asked who would offer his head for the faith. Five men rose one by one, from different castes and regions; they became the Panj Pyare, the five beloved ones. The Guru initiated them with amrit prepared in an iron bowl and stirred with a double-edged sword, then asked them to initiate him in turn. The Khalsa was given a common name, Singh for men and Kaur for women, and a discipline that set aside caste.
Vaisakhi is therefore also the birthday of the Khalsa, kept in Gurdwaras around the world with prayer, kirtan and processions. The day holds a further memory in Punjab: in the early twentieth century, a peaceful gathering at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on Baisakhi was fired upon by colonial troops, and the dead are remembered with quiet respect. Harvest, faith and history meet on the same day.
How it is observed
- Visiting the Gurdwara early in the morning, often after a bath in a river or the sarovar, and listening to kirtan and the Ardas.
- An Akhand Path, the unbroken reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, completed on the day in many Gurdwaras.
- Nagar kirtan processions led by five Sikhs representing the Panj Pyare, with the Guru Granth Sahib carried with honour.
- Amrit sanchar, the Khalsa initiation, held in many Gurdwaras on this day.
- Langar, the free community kitchen, open to everyone regardless of faith or background.
- In the villages, thanksgiving for the wheat harvest, fairs, bhangra and giddha, and festive food shared with neighbours.
How the date is fixed
Baisakhi follows the Sun. Our calendar finds the moment the Sun enters sidereal Aries, called Mesha Sankranti. If that moment comes before sunset, Baisakhi is that day; if it comes after sunset, Baisakhi is the next day. The date above is worked out this way for the place you choose, which is why it stays within a day or so of the same civil date each year. No tithi is involved, because the festival belongs to the solar calendar rather than the lunar one.
Where practice differs
Baisakhi is kept with the greatest energy in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu, and wherever Punjabi and Sikh communities live abroad; large gatherings take place at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, at Anandpur Sahib and at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo. The Nanakshahi calendar, adopted by some Sikh bodies and Gurdwaras, fixes Vaisakhi to a set date in the civil calendar, so some Gurdwaras may keep it on a day that differs from the solar day shown here. In Himachal and Uttarakhand the same Sankranti is Bisu or Bikhauti, and in Nepal it opens the Vikram Samvat new year.
Dates and times are computed by our own engine (sunrise, tithi and kalas for New Delhi, Lahiri ayanamsa). In another city, or in an almanac of another tradition, the day can differ by one — follow your family’s tradition.
Questions people ask
Why is Baisakhi celebrated?
Baisakhi is the harvest festival of Punjab and the start of the solar month of Vaisakh. For Sikhs it also marks the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur Sahib, so it is both a thanksgiving for the crop and a celebration of faith.
Why is Baisakhi almost always on the same date?
Because it follows the Sun’s entry into sidereal Aries rather than a lunar tithi. The solar year is nearly the same length as the civil year, so the day shifts only by a day now and then, depending on the exact moment of the Sankranti and sunset.
What happened on Vaisakhi at Anandpur Sahib?
Sikh tradition records that Guru Gobind Singh asked the gathered Sikhs who would give his head for the faith. Five men came forward and were initiated with amrit as the Panj Pyare, the first members of the Khalsa, and the Guru then took amrit from them himself.
Is Baisakhi the same as Vishu and Puthandu?
They mark the same astronomical event, the Sun’s entry into Aries, and fall on the same or neighbouring days. Each region keeps it in its own way: Baisakhi in Punjab, Vishu in Kerala, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Pohela Boishakh in Bengal and Bohag Bihu in Assam.