It is an annual celebration that takes place in the lunar month of Baisakh (April–May).
Baisakhi commemorates the sun's passage into Aries, which happens around April 14 according to Indian estimates.
- On the traditional calendar, this event commemorates the start of the solar year.
Baisakhi is mostly observed in the north, especially in Punjab and its neighboring areas.
- This celebration marked the start of the Himalayan pilgrimage season in the days when pilgrims still went by foot across the Himalayas; throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Baisakhi was the occasion for a large trade fair in Haridwar, the entrance to the Himalayan temples.
- Baisakhi is still the climax bathing (snana) day for the Haridwar Kumbha Mela and Ardha Kumbha Mela, both of which are bathing festivals that occur every twelve years when Jupiter is in the signs of Aquarius (for the Kumbha Mela) or Leo (for the Ardha Kumbha Mela) (for the Ardha Kumbha Mela).
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