Sikhs celebrate Guru's birthday

11:10am Wednesday 19th November 2008

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Hundreds of Sikhs attended a flag-raising ceremony at New Southgate’s Nanak Darbar Temple on Sunday to celebrate the birthday of the founder of their religion.

Around 500 people gathered at the temple, in High Road, on Sunday, to pay tribute to Guru Nanak.

Guru Nanak was born in 1469 in what is now Pakistan.

At the age of 30 he mysteriously disappeared for three days and, when he reappeared, he began to preach the Sikh faith.

Sikhs celebrate his birthday with a reading of the Sikh holy scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib, continuously from beginning to end.

Avtar Ghatoaura, assistant secretary of the temple, said: “When our religion was founded, Sikhs were soldiers defending the weak and the flat was always carried by the Sikh army.

"We have a great respect for our flag and those of any nation.”