Vaisakhi was a harvest festival before Guru Gobind Singh chose it in 1699 to found the Khalsa, and the choice was tactical: everyone was already gathered. He asked for a head; five men came forward one by one and were taken into a tent, from which he returned with a bloodied sword each time — and then all five walked out alive. The story is about tested willingness rather than sacrifice. The date is also remembered for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which occurred at a Vaisakhi gathering.