Last Month Of The Year

Sangrand has always had a very special meaning in my family. It's a tradition that we have followed for as long as I can remember. From the time we were kids, my parents have celebrated Sangrand at home every single month with full dedication without a single miss. As kids, the best part of Sangrand always used to be the Karha Prashad we got at the end of the long prayer ceremony. I still remember being dressed up early in the morning in school uniform, picking up mom's chunni from the cupboard (there were no walk-in closets back then :) ) and running through the paath while the auto-wala honked outside the house the billionth time before announcing that he was going to leave without me because the other kids were getting late to school.

Now that I am all grown up, Sangrand in our family is a lot different. There is no rush to get to school and no auto-wala honking. I fully participate in helping clean Baba Ji's room & make the Karha Prashad with my mom and wait patiently until all the family members get done with their chores so we can come together as a family and pray together yet again to thank GOD for his countless blessings. The commotion around Sangrand might be really different now that I am grown up but even after all these years, it still holds the same spirit that brings my family together persistently month after month even during the "never have enough time to do everything phases". The best part of Sangrand still is the Karha Prashad (and probably will always remain so...yummm to all that sugar and desi gheo) but I personally hold a lot more meaning to it now than I ever have in my life before.

If you are one of those uninformed Sikhs who know little about your faith or just someone who wants to learn something new, here is a brief introduction & some facts about Sangrand that you might find interesting:

Sangrand comes from the sanskrit word, Sankranti, which means the first day of each month of the solar calendar. The practice of celebrating Sangrand has been a Sikh way of life for hundreds of years and is used as an occasion to thank GOD for bestowing all his love & blessings on us in the month that has passed and pray for a happy, healthy & prosperous time in the upcoming month. In order to do this, the Baramah or calendar poems with a stanza devoted to each one of the 12 months written by Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Arjan Dev Ji are recited from the Guru Granth Sahib in addition to the daily ceremonial rituals. 

Today is Sangrand, and with that we are entering the last month of this year, Phagun, as per the Nanakshahi calendar. Did you know that the Nanakshahi calendar was actually developed by a Canadian Sikh? Pal Singh Purewal, a retired computer engineer started working on the Nanakshahi calendar in the 1960's in order to help Sikhs around the world create a mark of their own distinct cultural identity. It was approved & adopted by the Shiromani  Gurdwaara Prabhandak Committee in 1998. Until then, the Sikh religion largely followed & depended on the Vikrami calendar of the Hindus to determine the dates for all important Sikh events. 

Nanakshahi calendar considers 1469 A.D. which marks the year of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's birth per the Western Common Era calendar as Year 1 on its own records. Which technically means that right now, we are in Western Common Era calendar year 2012 but Nanakshahi calendar year 543 (remember...we are in the last month of 543, the new year 544 will start on March 14, 2012). Here are the Punjabi names for all the 12 months on the Nanakshahi calendar starting from the beginning - Chet, Vaisakh, Jeth, Harh, Sawan, Bhadon, Assu, Katak, Maghar, Poh, Magh, Phagun.

With your new knowledge about Sangrand and how the dates for it came to be as we know them today per the Nanakshahi calendar, let's now read the Phagun from the Baramah and pray to GOD that the last month of this year brings us much peace and lots of Karha Prashad. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji ki Fateh :)

                                                                         Baramah - Phagun in Gurmukhi with translation in Punjabi & English