Sikhism was founded in the Punjab region of South Asia in the late fifteenth century by Guru Nanak. The 2011 census recorded around 420,000 Sikhs in the UK, mainly in west London, the West Midlands and Yorkshire. The Sikh place of worship is called a gurdwara; the central scripture is the Guru Granth Sahib.
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Vaisakhi, celebrated in mid-April, marks the founding of the Khalsa — the community of initiated Sikhs — by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. It is the most prominent Sikh festival in the UK, with large processions in cities such as Birmingham, Southall and Wolverhampton.
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