Waheguru Ji da Khalsa, Waheguru Ji di Fateh !!
Ajj main thodde naal kuj galla saanjiya karna chauna.
Ajj 25 December, yaani Christmas aa.
When you hear of Christmas, what comes to you mind ?
- Jesus Christ's birthday ?
- A great soul just like Baba Nanak came into this world on this day ?
But, not many people don't know that Jesus Christ wasn't even born on this day.
Jesus Christ wasn't even born in winters, he was born in the mid of the year when it was summer.He was born in Israel between the 6 and 4 BC.
What is Christmas then ?
It was developed through a mythology milleniums ago.I will cover this subject in a different topic till I'll have the complete information over the history of celebrating Christmas.
In fact the Christmas Tree that is decorated on this day, has nothing to do with Jesus Christ's birthday.
Do you know why is the tree decorated ?
The concept of decorating the Christmas Tree started from Europe.
Why did it start ?
Imagine centuries ago, during the cold winters how would it be to live in the Northern and Western Europe ? Even today the Western Europe freezes despite having the climatic crisis because of the global warming.
Think of the Scandinavian region of Europe which is the Northern most part of the continent.Countries in the Scandinavian region(Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) gets snowed during this time.
Imagine how people would be living in those regions during that era.Today the rooms are centrally heated in Europe, you'd just wear a thin t-shirt and a thin pajama or shorts inside even though outside it might be in minus temperature.
But imagine about the life in that era.
In those days, during these freezing cold winters, there was a lack of warm sunshine and especially in the Scandinavian countries where there is night for the last few months of the year.It means no sunshine for the last few months of the year for the Scandinavian people, absolute dark.
Now, if there is no sunshine and heat in the environment, it means there are no Ultra-violate rays entering the atmosphere.Ultra-violate rays act as a disinfectant and kills germs.The heat coming from the Infrared rays also acts the same but the UV rays are more effective than the IR rays as a disinfectant.
Due to a lack of proper sunshine, people were exposed to numerous diseases and infections.Yes, even in snow cold regions infections still exist.It won't be correct to say that infectious bodies do not survive in cold.They do and are highly contiguous.
Now going back to that era, people use to fall badly ill during these cold winter times.There use to be dark for months and saw no sunshine.The illness caused due to infections use to get worse with the psychological effect of depression caused by the darkness outside.A person gets mentally weak when he or she is physically weak due to illness.You're easily prone to depression.
Now coming to the Christmas Tree, it is an Evergreen Coniferous tree.It means this tree is designed to stay green and look full of life even in the cold snow whereas other trees have their leaves showered down during the fall.Amongst all the leafless trees, this tree is the only tree which has its leaves over it and looks fully green and full of life.
During that time, with lesser education, people were more superstitious and started believing that the tree had some magical powers and even after being cut it stays full of life.With a hope that if a part of the tree is brought into the house it might spread its magical powers to the people, a positive vibe might enter the atmosphere of the house and the magical powers of the tree will touch the diseased person and would cure him.
So they use to cut down a part of the tree and keep it in front of the suffering person.Now looking at the tree the person would have some psychological effect coming through a sense of security.As we all know that most problems worsen due to worries and insecurity.But if one is secure and confident about it, half of the problems go away.
Having seen the person improving after bringing the tree in the house, people really started believing that the tree was magical and started decorating it to pay respect and love to it.
Since then this tradition was started and today we do it as a part of the Christmas Ritual.The days during the Christmas are the coldest of the year, and the tree was used the most during these days as these were the hardest times for the people in those regions, and so during these days they decorated the the tree in the house.
So by now you've understood the concept of decorating the tree, why do we do it and when did it start from.
Now coming to topic which talks about Christmas Day being a Shaheedi Divas for Sikhs.This is the main subject that I'm here to talk about.
Why would it be a Shaheedi Divas for the Sikh community ?
The reason is that, on this very day of Christmas that we celebrate by wishing "Merry Christmas" to all, by giving sweets, by making plump cakes at home or getting it from the market in the name of happily celebrating Christmas, the same day most people do not know is that it is a big Shaheedi Divas for us all.
On this very day, our Great and beloved Guru Gobind Singh Pita Ji sacrificed his sons.
Our Pita Ji's Sahibzade attained Martyrdom on this very day.The elder two sons, Sahibzada Ajit Singh and Sahibzada Jhujjar Singh were decorated by Guru Sahib himself to be sent to the battlefield.
Imagine the heart our Great Father had.Making his sons ready with his own hands to fight in the battle.Just around 18 and 16 years old were the Sahibzade.
I literally have tears in my eyes while writing this.Although making me cry is the world's hardest thing for anyone.
The younger sons, Sahizada Fateh Singh and Sahizada Joravar Singh attained martyrdom during this period also.Mata Gujjari Ji saw it all with her own eyes.Imagine the heart she had, her youngest gandsons who were 6 and 4 years old facing death with the courage that most us don't even have.
The amount of pride and honor that I feel in myself for having taken birth in a Community like this, I can't express in words.
If asked about my last wish, I would wish to be born as a Sikh once again and serve the community, humanity and our Gurus once again.
Conclusion :
The intention for me to write this was that, I wanted to share a view with you all about just how we forget such a big event in our history while the world is celebrating Christmas with all the laughter and happiness and during the same time our Guru Gobind Singh Pita Ji and his family was going through such a hard and a sorrowful time.
It is our responsibility to pay respect and condolence to our beloved ancestors who gave up everything for us.The least we can do is remember them and thank them for what they gave us.
My intention is not make go you negative about Christmas but was solely to make you understand that we (Sikhs) celebrate Christmas and greet each other not knowing that Christmas wasn't actually the Birthday of Father Jesus Christ and we forget about the sacrifices that our Gurus made just about 300 years ago and yet most people are unaware of it.
I would like to thank you all those who've read this.
Please do not take this in a negative spirit.Take this as a view point and understand the whole story in an analytical way.
Ending the topic I would like to share a writing that I wrote about Guru Gobind Singh Ji long back.
I use to write poems, qoutes and songs long back when I was in school.My writings are mostly in English but this one I wrote in Punjabi for Guru Gobind Singh Sahib.
Thank you everyone !!
IceColdRider.
GUR GOBIND SINGH SAHIB JI“Sochke aunda sirf rohna vekh ke teri qurbaniya nu,
Saddi shaan te jaan layi vaar dita apne Sarbans nu,
Phir bhi ehsaas nahio hunda isda jag nu,
Geedarha nu Sher banaya si tu.
Gobind Rai toh Gobind Singh aap baad wich banya si tu,
Pehla apne pyareya nu ditti si daat Khalse di tu,
Phir Ohna hi to mangi si daat Khalse di tu,
Sochda te main eh hi ke kina vadda Patshah si tu.
Khande di dhaar vicho paida kitta tu panth niyara,
Chuneya si tainu hi Akal Purakh ne kyunki siga tu ohda bahaut pyara.
Tu Baaj naal ik chirhiya si ladaai,
Namumkin kuch vi nahi, eh tu umeed si jagaai.
Sau sau tutt paye si tere te dukh, par tu nahi ghabraya,
Darke nahi bhajna Singhan nu tu eh hi si daseya,
Tu Maidan-E-Jang wich Shera vang geedarha nu si ladaya.
Sava Lakh naal tune si ik ladaya,
Taa tune Gobind Singh naam dharaya,
Chaar putt garv naal Maidan-E-Jang wich vaare ne,
Phir aakhda haske Sikha nu ke Chaar vaarke kayi hazaar jeevit kitte ne.
Keho jeha jigar si tera,
Kinnah sohna hona roop tera,
Darde si vadde vadde vairi vekh ke rob tera.
Shahan Shaha da Shahan Shah hai tu,
Lakha moore ik kalla si tu.
Rahoogia amar hamesha nishani jedi tu de gaya,
Nahio kadi bhulange sab kuch jo tu vaar gaya.
Rakhi apna kirpa bhareya hath hamesha apne panth de sir te,
Rakhi hamesha sannu kol apne charna de."
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