Cultural event # 5 Sikh Experiance

On Wednesday May 31, I attended a forum on the Sikh experience in America. Dr. Dan Viblinger, a professor of eastern religions at Chico State hosted the event and a student named Rashmeer was there to represent Sikhs. Having always enjoyed learning about different cultures, I thought this would be a great experience to learn something new. I have had the pleasure of knowing Sikh family but I wasn’t comfortable asking questions about their culture. I didn’t know them well enough and didn’t know if it would offend them. I have attended the Sikh parade in Yuba city that is held every year. It is actually very fun. Their clothing are amazing! They are so color full and all the beading is done by hand. Our next door neighbor gave my mom a whole bunch of outfits to wear and they are beautifully made and each bead sewn on by hand.

Guru Nanak founded the Sikh religion in 1499 and was based in the Punjab region which is now India, Pakistan. A Guru was the chosen leader of the religion and after each one dies he passes his rule to the next person. However, during the reign of the 10^th leader he felt that no leader should govern for fear of tearing the religion apart.

What I found to be interesting was that many Punjabis have migrated to California because the weather matched that of their region in order to grow crops. Over the years the Sikh community has grow tremendously in Yuba and Butte county. It has grown so much that it is said that over 80,000 people attend the Sikh parade every year. Having attended the parade that seems a little much but maybe I went on a low attendance year.

Dr. Viblinger was very informative and had a lot of wonderful fact to share. He seemed very interested in the subject and was able to answer a lot of questions. As for Rashmeer, he really couldn’t answer all that many questions which I found surprising considering he is Sikh. Also many of those in attendance were of the Sikh culture so they were answering some of the student question as well.

All in all I thought it was a very interesting event and would recommend those who are interested in different religions to look into this interesting culture. They are very nice family oriented people and this is coming form first hand experience.