In our neighborhood
05/03/24 01:40
Punjab is a state in northwestern India bordering Pakistan. The city of Amritsar is a pilgrimage site, home to the Golden Temple, the center of worship, teaching, and religion for practitioners of the Sikh religion. It is also the home of Durgiana Temple, a Hindu shrine. The state is crossed by five rivers and the soil and climate are well suited for wheat production. Workers from Punjab first immigrated to the area where we live in the early 1900s to work in the timber industry. By 1906 there were about 200 Sikhs in Whatcom County primarily working in lumber mills. Those who had settled from other regions, predominantly from Europe, called them “Hindoos,” a product of a misunderstanding about their religion and a misspelling of “Hindu.” In 1907 a mob attacked Sikh workers and chased them out of Bellingham. Many sought refuge with relatives in southern British Columbia. Behind the Bellingham Public Library building across from City Hall there is an arch erected in remembrance of three historic racist events in the city’s history: the mid-1800s eviction of Chinese workers, the 1907 eviction of Sikh workers, and the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II.
In the 1980s Sikhs began to return to Whatcom County, primarily new immigrants from Punjab who came to be near relatives in southwest British Columbia. One of the early Sikh settlers is one of the largest berry growers in our area. Sikh farmers in our county produce roughly one third of all frozen berries sold nationally. The bag of mixed blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in the frozen foods section of your local supermarket likely came from Whatcom County berry farms operated by Sikh farmers. Current estimates are that there are over 5,000 people from India, mostly from Punjab, living in Whatcom County.
The presence of family in the region has attracted other Sikh immigrants from Punjab, who work in a variety of different professions. Lawyers, doctors, and engineers have settled in neighborhoods throughout the county. There is a Sikh family living a few houses down the street from our home and we have come to recognize three generations of relatives who come and go from their family home.
There are Sikh Gurdwaras, centers of worship and public meals, in Ferndale, Lynden, and Bellingham, communities near our home. Although Sikh is the fifth largest religion in the world, I know very little about it. I am not alone in my ignorance. Many people identify the turbans worn by Sikh men as being related to Muslim practice and the Middle East instead of understanding that turbans are worn by both men and women in Sikh tradition. For Sikhs the turban is considered to be a crown and worn to identify the wearers as Sikh - people who help others and perform good deeds. At the heart of each Sikh Gurdwara is a langar hall, a community kitchen where everyone is welcome and served delicious vegetarian food without charge. The Golden Temple in Amritsar severs over 150,000 hungry people each day. Siks also take food and emergency supplies to places in the world that are experiencing war or natural disaster.
The Sikh Gurdwaras are open to the public. Sikhs do not proselytize. While non Sikhs are welcome to attend and learn from the teachings, Sikhs do not seek to convert others to their faith. The Gurdwara is a place of teaching based on Sikh scripture, which is a collection of devotional songs written by six historic Sikh gurus. Sikh means “student” and guru means “teacher.”
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many Sikhs experienced racist violence. People ignorant of Sikh practices and fearful of people who dressed or looked differently from them wrongly associated Sikhs with terrorism. The process of educating the general population about the truth of our neighbors has been a difficult one. Quietly practicing their faith without seeking to convert those of other faiths led some to wrongly believe that they are separatist and secretive. In reality the Sikh Gurdwaras are open to the public and curious outsiders are always welcome.
As recent transplants to this community, we are aware of the many different stories of the people in our neighborhood. Since time immemorial, Coast Salish people have lived on the lands we now call home. Lummi and Nooksack people continue to live in our community and both tribes have small reservations nearby. Settlers have come from around the world attracted by abundant jobs, rich soil, productive farms, and a mild climate. In addition to our Punjabi neighbors, there are relatively recent immigrants from Ukraine and Mexico living in our region. Children in our school district come from homes where Spanish, Ukrainian, and Punjabi are spoken.
For us this wealth of diversity is one of the special charms of living in this region. It delights us to live among neighbors with different religions and practices than our own. It also reminds us of how little we know about others. Because our primary community has always been the Christian church the majority of our friends are practicing Christians, most of them members of the same congregation as we. Slowly we are getting to know more about our neighbors and learning a little bit about different religions. I only recently learned that the reason the name “Singh” seems so common among Sikh neighbors is that all Sikh men take the name “Singh” as their middle or last name, just as all Sikh women take the name “Kaur” as their middle or last name. “Singh” means lion and “Kaur” means of noble birth. The place of worship is a gurdwara which means threshold or gate. Originally gurdwaras were the homes of gurus.
Because we are blessed to have a very productive cherry tree and our son’s family farm produces abundant fruit and berries, we mostly eat those fruits. However, this morning I plan to dip into a bag of commercially frozen berries purchased at the store to have with my oatmeal. I am still eating local, knowing that the berries were produced in our home county. I am grateful to my Sikh neighbors for their productive food-sharing ways.
In the 1980s Sikhs began to return to Whatcom County, primarily new immigrants from Punjab who came to be near relatives in southwest British Columbia. One of the early Sikh settlers is one of the largest berry growers in our area. Sikh farmers in our county produce roughly one third of all frozen berries sold nationally. The bag of mixed blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in the frozen foods section of your local supermarket likely came from Whatcom County berry farms operated by Sikh farmers. Current estimates are that there are over 5,000 people from India, mostly from Punjab, living in Whatcom County.
The presence of family in the region has attracted other Sikh immigrants from Punjab, who work in a variety of different professions. Lawyers, doctors, and engineers have settled in neighborhoods throughout the county. There is a Sikh family living a few houses down the street from our home and we have come to recognize three generations of relatives who come and go from their family home.
There are Sikh Gurdwaras, centers of worship and public meals, in Ferndale, Lynden, and Bellingham, communities near our home. Although Sikh is the fifth largest religion in the world, I know very little about it. I am not alone in my ignorance. Many people identify the turbans worn by Sikh men as being related to Muslim practice and the Middle East instead of understanding that turbans are worn by both men and women in Sikh tradition. For Sikhs the turban is considered to be a crown and worn to identify the wearers as Sikh - people who help others and perform good deeds. At the heart of each Sikh Gurdwara is a langar hall, a community kitchen where everyone is welcome and served delicious vegetarian food without charge. The Golden Temple in Amritsar severs over 150,000 hungry people each day. Siks also take food and emergency supplies to places in the world that are experiencing war or natural disaster.
The Sikh Gurdwaras are open to the public. Sikhs do not proselytize. While non Sikhs are welcome to attend and learn from the teachings, Sikhs do not seek to convert others to their faith. The Gurdwara is a place of teaching based on Sikh scripture, which is a collection of devotional songs written by six historic Sikh gurus. Sikh means “student” and guru means “teacher.”
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many Sikhs experienced racist violence. People ignorant of Sikh practices and fearful of people who dressed or looked differently from them wrongly associated Sikhs with terrorism. The process of educating the general population about the truth of our neighbors has been a difficult one. Quietly practicing their faith without seeking to convert those of other faiths led some to wrongly believe that they are separatist and secretive. In reality the Sikh Gurdwaras are open to the public and curious outsiders are always welcome.
As recent transplants to this community, we are aware of the many different stories of the people in our neighborhood. Since time immemorial, Coast Salish people have lived on the lands we now call home. Lummi and Nooksack people continue to live in our community and both tribes have small reservations nearby. Settlers have come from around the world attracted by abundant jobs, rich soil, productive farms, and a mild climate. In addition to our Punjabi neighbors, there are relatively recent immigrants from Ukraine and Mexico living in our region. Children in our school district come from homes where Spanish, Ukrainian, and Punjabi are spoken.
For us this wealth of diversity is one of the special charms of living in this region. It delights us to live among neighbors with different religions and practices than our own. It also reminds us of how little we know about others. Because our primary community has always been the Christian church the majority of our friends are practicing Christians, most of them members of the same congregation as we. Slowly we are getting to know more about our neighbors and learning a little bit about different religions. I only recently learned that the reason the name “Singh” seems so common among Sikh neighbors is that all Sikh men take the name “Singh” as their middle or last name, just as all Sikh women take the name “Kaur” as their middle or last name. “Singh” means lion and “Kaur” means of noble birth. The place of worship is a gurdwara which means threshold or gate. Originally gurdwaras were the homes of gurus.
Because we are blessed to have a very productive cherry tree and our son’s family farm produces abundant fruit and berries, we mostly eat those fruits. However, this morning I plan to dip into a bag of commercially frozen berries purchased at the store to have with my oatmeal. I am still eating local, knowing that the berries were produced in our home county. I am grateful to my Sikh neighbors for their productive food-sharing ways.
