HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) - At Holyoke City Hall, members of the local Sikh community started their celebration of Vaisakhi on Tuesday with prayers and a flag-raising ceremony. The month of April is special to all Sikhs, as they honor the beginning of a new year in their faith. Vaisakhi is a festival held on April 13 for Sikhs to acknowledge the people of India.Whether it is celebrated in America or India, they use their temple for gatherings. Photos include pet night with the Holyoke Mall Easter Bunny "This means like, anyone that needs help or if they're hungry, they can go to that temple and get help," said Gurninder Dhaliwal, Secretary of the Planning Board in Holyoke. "So we have one full gurdwara in Connecticut, then five gurdwaras in Massachusetts." The first group of Sikhs came to the U.S. in the 1900s from the Punjab region of South Asia. Now, the U.S. has grown to have more than 700,000 Sikhs living here. As more Sikhs came to the U.S., this tradition has become harder for them to observe. "After 9/11, we've been misidentified, so for a lot of areas in the United States, because of misidentifying, people don't have an education of who we are," said Baljinder Singh, a member of the Holyoke Sikh community. Therefore, the members of Holyoke do something special each year. The Sikh community has celebrated Vaisakhi with a parade in the U.S. for 37 years. And for the last 15 years, it has always started right here in the city of Holyoke. Their goal is to bring peace and equality and to show everyone how their religion is different.This is a tradition they say will forever continue in Holyoke. "They give us a lot of respect and we respect every religion, that's what my religion is," said Singh. Sikhism is the fifth-largest independent religion in the world. The members told 22News that they will continue to keep it growing. Local News Headlines Local Head Start CEO elected to New England board Driver injured in rollover crash in Conway New England makes strides towards affordable sustainable energy Belchertown raises flag to honor child abuse prevention WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com. ...read more read less