Thousands of Sikhs gathered in Winnipeg on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the religion’s holy book, with food, music, prayer and a parade through the downtown core.
The Nagar Kirtan parade Sunday marks the 421st anniversary since the Guru Granth Sahib — the religion’s holy book, which Sikhs believe is the last in a line of gurus — was installed in the Golden Temple of Amritsar, in India’s Punjab region.
Memorial Park, across Broadway from the Manitoba Legislature, was packed on Sunday morning for a celebration with free food, traditional dance and music. At noon, prayers kicked off the parade, organized by the Sikh Society of Manitoba.
The society’s president Harbans Singh Brar said all Winnipeggers were welcome to enjoy the free food and festivities.
“We have no discrimination, any gender, any colour, everyone can come and eat free and enjoy,” Brar said.
Gagandeep Chuhan, a crowd control volunteer, said providing free food to the community is a core tenant of Sikhism — the practice of seva, meaning “selfless service” in Sanskrit.
“That’s our guru’s philosophy, that you need to eat with everybody, that you need to serve everybody and we do it just to put god in our mind,” Chuhan said.
“We do seva every single day but today is a much more important.”
Thousands of people flocked to downtown Winnipeg for the Nagar Kirtan parade on Aug. 31, 2025. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)
Sahej Kaur, who moved to Winnipeg from India 2½ years ago, said she never expected to see such a large celebration of Sikh culture in Canada’s Prairies.
“I really love it because today I’m feeling like I’m in India because it’s the same thing, same people, same community in a different country,” Kaur said.
“It’s wonderful, I’m seeing the same culture here.”
Kaur said it was her first time attending the festival in Winnipeg and she was really excited to seek blessings from the holy book, praying for her family back home in India and her life in Canada.
“It is really soothing my mind because I am feeling harmony being here,” she said. “I’m going to remember this for my whole lifetime.”
Memorial Boulevard will be closed between York Avenue and Broadway until 7 p.m. on Sunday.
