Every year, Turban Day is held in the center of Oslo and the number of visitors increases annually, this year there were 20,000 visitors and the queue to get a turban was almost 1 km long. 250 volunteers contributed to a successful event and an experience of Punjab in Spikersuppa! It inspired this post. https://www.facebook.com/Turbandagen/videos/722901224548177/ India is not only known as a country with several languages and traditions. It is also called the country of religions, due to the origin of several religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Hare Krishna and countless movements. Religion is so vast that it is difficult to embrace in a blog post, so I will only include the most important and well-known elements. Sikhism is probably the newest in India's religious history and 500 years old and was founded by Guru Nanakji. He was the first of ten gurus, they lived from 1469 to 1708 in India. The reason was a protest against the caste system and a desire for a spiritual community where everyone would be equal. The turban is a characteristic of the Sikhs and there are two reasons why it is worn. One is out of respect for how God has created us, hair and beards are therefore not cut. For practical reasons, long hair is tied in a turban. The other is to remove the distinction between poor and rich. In the past, only kings wore turbans. In this way, it is a symbol that everyone has an equal right to be royalty.
There are 25 million Sikh believers in the world today and it is the fifth largest religion in the world. Sikh means a student or disciple and Sikh boys have Singh and girls have Kaur as their middle name. Singh means lion and kaur means princess. The holy book is called Guru Granth Sahibji which contains rich poetry from the Gurus and other philosophers. On March 30, 1699, the Khalsa was founded by the last of the 10 Gurus, it is a voluntary order for the Sikhs. Khalsa means pure through and through. All Sikhs who practice Khalsa must fulfill the five ´K´. These are:
- Kesh; i.e. uncut hair and beard.
- Kanga; a special small comb for combing hair.
- Kara; a steel bracelet that was originally a slave mark, but is seen as devotion to God.
- Kachh; is a long undergarment worn by warriors at the time the Khalsa was founded.
- Kirpan; a small sword or knife that was seen as a necessity and for self-defense.
The Sikh house of worship is called a gurdwara (door of the guru) and there are two in Eastern Norway, one in Alnabru and the other in Lier. All gurdwaras around the world offer langar, a free kitchen where you can come and get a simple vegetarian meal.