Gurpurab

This is the anniversary of a guru's birth or death; marked by the holding of a festival. A gurpurab in Sikh tradition is a celebration of an anniversary related to the lives of the Sikh gurus. Observance of these anniversaries is an important feature of the Sikh way of life.

There are indications in the old chronicles that the gurus who succeeded Guru Nanak celebrated his birthday. Such importance was attached to the anniversaries that dates of the deaths of the first four gurus were recorded on a leaf in the first recension of the Scripture prepared by the Fifth Guru, Guru Arjan. The term gurpurab first appeared in the time of the gurus. It is a compound of the word purab (or parva in Sanskrit), meaning a festival or celebration, with the word guru. It occurs in at least five places in the writings of Bhai Gurdas (1551–1636), written in the time of Guru Arjan.

Among the more important gurpurbs in the Nanakshahi calendar are the birth anniversaries of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, the martyrdom days of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, and of the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib in the Harimandar at Amritsar. Other important gurpurbs include Baisakhi, which commemorates the creation of the Khalsa Panth, and the martyrdom days of the young sons of Guru Gobind Singh.

Gurpurabs are a mixture of the religious and the festive, the devotional and the spectacular, the personal and the communal. Over the years a standardized pattern has evolved, but this pattern has no special sanctity, and local groups may invent their own variations. During these celebrations, the Guru Granth Sahib is read through, in private homes and in the gurdwaras, in a single continuous ceremony lasting 48 hours. This reading, called Akhand Path, must be without interruption; the relay of reciters who take turns at saying the Scripture ensures that no break occurs.

...
Wikipedia