Woke up today to find the streets outside my house filled with tens of thousands of Sikhs celebrating (as I later found out) Khalsa Day. The gorgeous weather, the lack of responsibilities on a Sunday afternoon, the bright colours, and everyone’s infectious enthusiasm and generosity (there was free food and drink everywhere!) made for pretty much a perfect day. There was such a great sense of community, and I felt like I was part of the vibe too, even though I didn’t understand anything that was going on. It was amazing to see everyone out, especially all the volunteers who devoted their time to come out and hand out water and snacks to people, or even to hold garbage bags and clean up after the event.

At some point this summer, make a point of going to a parade. It’ll do your soul good.

Some more pics my friend Colin took after the jump.

So many people!

And such bright colours!

And mock sword fights!

And guys hardcore enough to walk barefoot on frying asphalt!