Baisakhi marks the arrival of the harvesting season. The festival always falls on April 13 and marks the beginning of the solar year. Just before the festival the farmer returns home with his bumper crop, the fruit of his whole year's hard labour.Sikhs visit gurudwaras (Sikh temples) and listen to ‘kirtans’ religious songs) and discourses. After the prayer, ‘kada prasad’ (sweetened semolina) is served to the congregation. The function ends with ‘langar’, the community lunch served by volunteers.

This festival is in celebration to thank God for good harvest for the year and coming year also. Early morning of Baiskhai, people take dip in holy rivers. Cries of "Jatta aai Baisakhi" rent the skies as the people of Punjab attired in their best clothes break into the Bhangra dance to express their joy. The dancers and drummers challenge each other to continue the dance. The scenes of sowing, harvesting, winnowing and gathering of crops are expressed through zestful movements of the body to the accompaniment of ballads. Both men and women, celebrate the day with Bhangra and Gidda. Fairs are organized at various places in Punjab, where besides other recreational activities, wrestling bouts are also held. The occasion is celebrated with great gusto at Talwandi Sabo, where Guru Gobind Singh stayed for nine months and completed the recompilation of the Guru Granth Sahib. Baisakhi has a special meaning for the Sikhs. Guru Amar Das had first institutionalized Baisakhi in 1567 as one of the special days when all Sikhs would gather to receive the guru's blessings at Goindwal. On this day in 1699, their tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, organized the order of the Khalsa. He discontinued the tradition of Gurus in Sikhism by declaring the Granth Sahib to be the eternal Guru of all Sikhs. To form the Khalsa Panth he asked his followers to be ready to lay down their lives to save others. Five volunteers of five different castes were made the Panj Piaras, who would lead the rest. Guru Arjan Dev was martyred by the Muslim rulers who, in barbaric cruelty, threw him alive into a cauldron of boiling oil, on this day.