Category: Holidays & Observances

Celebrate Vaisakhi!

Tomorrow at our school we celebrate Vaisakhi. Be sure to join in on the festivities at lunch and throughout the day. The official date for Vaisakhi in 2025 is April 14.

Vaisakhi is a major festival on the Sikh calendar, and one of the most important days of the year. Sikhs in Canada, India, and around the world will celebrate the founding of the Khalsa, or the worldwide body of Sikhs, as established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. Sometimes Vaisakhi is referred to as Khalsa Day.

Vaisakhi, or Baisakhi, was traditionally a spring harvest festival, and for some, a New Year’s Day. All across northern India, particularly in the Punjab, many different groups will celebrate Vaisakhi for these various reasons, including Hindus and other non-Sikhs. Vaisakhi is traditionally observed on April 13 or 14, but may be celebrated on different days in different places. Vancouver will hold its Vaisakhi Parade on April 12, while Surrey will hold its parade, one of the largest in the world, on April 19.

The overwhelming majority of Indo-Canadians (people of South Asian origin) in our school and in our neighbourhoods are Sikhs. As such, Vaisakhi is a major holiday here in Surrey and other cities in British Columbia with concentrated populations of Sikhs, such as Vancouver and Abbotsford.

Join with us in your School Library as we celebrate Sikh Heritage Month by learning more about Vaisakhi and other aspects of Sikh culture and history.

Find out more:

Around the Clock Schooling

Government officials announced this morning that they approved plans for a new schedule for Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary and all schools in the district, effective September 2025. In an effort to maximize the efficient use of space, time and all resources, all schools will be adopting a year long and around the clock schedule.

There will be 3 different groups who will be assigned to one of the following schedules:

Schedule A: Monday to Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Schedule B: Monday to Saturday 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM
Schedule C: Monday to Saturday 1:00 AM to 9:00 AM

Sunday will be reserved for 24 Hour Detention, for students who have been late, absent, misbehaving, not completing homework, using cell phones, or not paying attention during the regular schedule. Students in Detention will be required to clean and maintain the school, as none of that will be done during the regular schedule.

This schedule ensures maximum use of the school building. Assignment for schedules will be based on an auction system, with preferred spots going to the highest bidders.

Anonymous sources have hinted that there will be no human teachers in the buildings during the school day, as all students will be learning via remote connections to AI instructors, but that has yet to be confirmed. Officials did acknowledge that security guards, contracted from local prison populations, would be patrolling the hallways so there will be at least some adults present.

Many observers were quite shocked by the announcement, however it was clear that pressure has been mounting from influential parent groups such as “Moms for Our Kind of Indoctrination” and “Dads for Schools that don’t let Children Mooch Off the Taxpayer.”

Ramadan Mubarak

The Islamic month of Ramadan has begun . Ramadan is a month of fasting, prayer and other acts for devotion for Muslims. Ramadan Kareem!

We wish Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem to the more than one million Canadians who follow Islam, and to our Muslim neighbours around the world.

Find out more about Ramadan:

BBC: Ramadan

CBC News: Ramadan

Muslim Association of Canada

Imbolc

Imbolc is celebrated February 1 to 2. The traditions of Imbolc reach back deep into the pagan history of the Celtic peoples of Ireland and its neighbours. With the Christianization of Ireland, Imbolc was replaced by St. Brigid’s Day . Imbolc as a cultural event has seen a resurgence in recent years, mainly in the neo-pagan community. Imbolc has also grown in popularity amongst others who desire to celebrate traditional Irish/Celtic culture, particularly in regards to the connections with nature and the cycles of the year.

<a href="http://steven earnshaw, CC BY 2.0 source

Roughly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, Imbolc was celebrated as the start of Spring. Imbolc was associated with new life and fertility, particularly the arrival of lambs. Imbolc was also strongly associated with the Goddess Brigid. When Christianity arrived in Ireland in the early 5th, pagan traditions were often adapted to the new beliefs. Imbolc became known as St. Brigid’s Day. Along with St, Patrick and St. Columba, St. Brigid was a patron saint of Ireland. She may or may not have been a real person, and many historians believe that real person or not, her name was borrowed directly from the pagan goddess.

Find out more:

Guru Gobind Singh

On January 6, 2025, Sikhs in Canada and around the world celebrate Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, a chance to observe and celebrate the birth of Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru was born in 1666 in Patna, India. He was the 10th and last of the (human) Gurus of Sikhism. He established the Khalsa, the organization of men and women baptized into the Sikh faith. He also established the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism, as the final Guru for the Sikh people.

GuruGobindSingh
source: discoversikhism.com

For more on Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikh faith, check out:

Halloween Fun Facts

Halloween is just a week away. Here are some articles to learn more about Halloween. Shout out to Mental Floss as our source for most of these links!

Louis Riel

On this day in 1885, Louis Riel was hanged for High Treason by Canadian authorities. Riel was a Metis leader who led the resistance of his people against the Canadian government in the Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the North-West Rebellion of 1884. Few Canadians can come even close to Riel as a divisive figure in Canadian history. Riel was portrayed as an enemy of Canada by the government of John A. Macdonald, a view that was held by many anglophone Canadians for many years, and still by some today. On the other hand, Metis was a hero to the Metis, to indigenous people in general, and to many French Canadians, and anglophone Catholics. To them Riel represented those that would stand up against the elites whose vision of Canada was dominated by white people, English speakers, and Protestants of Anglo-Saxon heritage. Today more Canadians look favourably upon Riel, a complex figure whose life is entwined with so many problematic issues from Canada’s history that still challenge us today.

Find out more:

Book Spotlight: Earth Day

Come down to your School Library to find out more about Earth Day and all the issues that we face in terms of protecting life on this planet.

If you are looking for a quick introduction to the scientific understanding of the issues of climate change, this is a great place to start: This is Climate Change: A Visual Guide to the Facts: See for Yourself How the Planet is Warming and What it Means for Us, by David Nelles & Christian Serrer.

What they (the authors) were hoping to find was a book that explained the nuts and bolts of climate change and presented the scientific evidence in a way that was concise and enjoyable to read. After a long and fruitless search, they eventually gave up and instead decided to write it themselves.

“Who’s Behind the Book”, Nelles and Serrer, 128)

An excellent feature of the book is the comprehensive bibliography that can be reached by QR code or by using the given URL. Go here to see the Bibliography.