Ballarat Sikh community comes together for Vaisakhi celebration

The growing religion, which preaches peace and equality, has many adherents in Ballarat, and community members celebrated Vaisakhi on Sunday in Invermay.

"As you can see today, there are a lot of people, and multicultural as well, not just Sikh people, it's everyone," Dhan Shri Guru Nanak Incorporated president Rajinder Singh Gill said.

"We want people to know us, and our values - in many countries, many Sikh organisations are doing a lot of good work, in Syria and the Ukraine, wherever there are community needs, it doesn't matter who, we feed the people.

"That's one of our principles, that no one should sleep hungry."

There was indeed plenty of food on offer, and a welcoming vibe for newcomers.

Mr Gill said one focus was on education, as followers were often mistaken for other communities.

"Sikhism is only 500 years old, it's a very new religion," he added.

The community also welcomed new followers, like Simon Murray, who said he began researching Sikhism "two or three years ago" online, but had been seriously practicing for about a year.

"As I researched more into it, I got more into it, it really clicked with me, I can really get behind every message, and I started looking up videos of prayers, and it just led on from there," he said.

"It's not just the aesthetic, it's the universal, open nature of it - I still need to meet everyone, this community I only know a small number of people, but there are a lot of people."

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Sikh charity Turbans 4 Australia was also at the celebration - Gurmej Singh said they hoped "to explain to people why we wear the turbans and what it's all about - we don't cut or trim our hair, so it's a way to keep it tidy and make it look good".

"Today's also more of a social thing, not just a religious thing - it's good to get to know each other, what our beliefs are, so we thought we'd get everybody to get together."

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