Sikh wedding rituals

Punjabi Wedding Traditions are very interesting. Punjabi wedding include many rituals. All the rituals are fun filled. In Punjabi Traditions First the people do “Roka” means to stop. Roka is to stop the search partner as the perfect match has been found. The next ritual is Taka means “set the date”  after the roka ceremony conceded at bride place to set wedding date and preparations are made for engagement. Then they do Kurmai means which is formal engagement. Engagement ceremony started with a short prayer by granthi (sikh priest). And then they set date of marriage. So they rituals begin 30 days before the marriage. Then in Punjabi tradition people do chunni ceremony after the engagement and this is performed by mother of a groom who cover the bride’s head with chunni (red scarf) which represents that from now she is responsible for upholding the honor and pride of her family. And there is ceremony called mehandi . The bride and groom both applied henna hand and feet. Choora ceremony is performed at bride home by her uncle giving her 21 bangles with red and cream color which is bath by yoghurt milk and rosewater. On the wedding day's first they do Sehra bandi it performed at groom's home. Sehra means a heavy embroidery veil is fixed onto the groom's head which is then tied on turban. Then the Anand karaj means “ceremony of bliss” which starts with kirtan- traditional singing of hymns. last doli which the bride sits in car and push the car by four people. This is very emotional moment for her parents as their daughter is leaving from her house to start new life.

   

Sikhism Beliefs

I belong to sikh culture. I love my culture and its traditional values. In this blog I will tell you the facts about what sikh believe. Sikh believe that everyone (men and women) are equal and have equal status before God, who created the whole universe. The name of the sikh holy book is Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. We worship 10 Gurus. Sikh people wore a steel bracelet called "kara". The place where sikh people worship is known as Gurudwara and it is where the sikh holy book "shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji" is kept. In gurudwara all sikh people remove their shoes and all of us cover our heads as a sign of respect. "Golden Temple" is the central Sikh shrine which is in amritsar, India. In gurudwara there is a langar hall in which sikh participate, it's a communal meal, of Punjabi food which is cooked and served by volunteers. The traditional dress of sikh culture is salwar suit in women and kurta pajama in men. Punjabi folk dance is bhangra (performed by men) and giddha (performed by women). Sikh wedding includes various rituals. Engagement ceremony is called “Kurmai” which is performed a week before the wedding. This ceremony is performed in gurudwara (sikh Temple) or can be performed at bride/groom house. This ceremony involves ardas, kirtan and langar- which is a common meal. In the marriage we wear traditional dresses and it’s lots of fun. All of the family members and relatives together enjoyed a lot. So there are lot of more good things about this culture which I enjoy the most.

                             

The importance of festivals

                 I am from India and I love the Indian traditions and festivals which we celebrate in our culture. Every festival we celebrate has its own uniqueness and specialty. There is something which makes every festival unique. My family starts off each day with a prayer to thank God for what he gives us and what we are. Also, Holidays mean a lot to my family because in that day we can spend time together, share our thoughts to each other, play some games or watch a movie.

                  Some important holidays/festivals in our culture are Gurpurab, Diwali and Dussehra. Each festival has its own meaning and importance. People celebrate them with traditions which makes people to enjoy more. After celebrating a festival together than all of the  family members and relatives sit together and eat dinner. The dinner time conversations valued in my family because we share our thoughts to each other or plan to make some plan on holidays and everyone give their opinion.

             My favorite festival is Diwali. On that day, my family do lot of things. We go to shopping, clean our house, make lot of Punjabi traditional food. My family plan to give something to our relatives. We do lot of fun on that day because on that day my cousins came to our house and celebrate together. We plan to do something to make our Diwali special. We decorate our house with colorful candles. At evening time, we do huge fireworks and mom makes different kind of sweets. In our culture, we wear colorful traditional dresses on festivals like Diwali, dussehra and everyone want to look beautiful on that day. So, every festival brings enjoyment, happiness to our houses. I wish that the new generation will also give importance to these festivals and continue celebrating these festivals by learning its importance in our life.

               

Small happy family

Family is something which plays an important role in our life. I believe that a person without family is not complete in this world because family is a very important part of our life. Every member of the family emotionally attaches to their family members in their happiness as well as sadness. When you live in happy family than you feel secure and help each other in their bad time. I live in small and happy family, where we live for each other’s. When I get home after my school and my younger brother is not at home than I feel like something is missing because even though we fight a lot but still we care for each other. My Mom is the world best mom. She is very nice, pure hearted and always help people. I want to thank god for giving me such a nice mother. She makes me fresh and my favorite food when I get home and she always make sure that I eat healthy. My dad has always given me whatever I want from him. They guide me to the right direction if I ever need their help.  So, my parents are the best. My grandmother is my angel. She is India right now but I think I am very lucky to have a grandmother like her because she always supports me and always ready if I need her help. This is my small and happy family and my family members are everything for me.

              

Family values

Family values are the values that are passed from generation to generation within families. The more significant values are family unity, honesty, education etc. These are some of the values which I have learnt from my parents. Many years ago, the trend used to be like that dad go outside and work. Mother stayed at home doing household chores and take care of their children, help them to get their homework done before they could go outside and play. Every Sunday the family would go to church and in my case, we go to Sikh temple. And the mother at home teach childrens moral values such as respect. So, parents taught their childrens to respect their elders.

But now a day’s teens lack these moral values. They are more interested in learning how to use the internet, play violent video games and doing other stuff that they want to but not interested in learning the values that can make them a better person. The reality is that teens have lost their sense of the direction. Earlier childrens used to sit with their parents and talk to them about their whole day and more likely to spent most of their time with their family. But now childrens want to spent their time with their friends rather than family. They don’t like to share their thoughts with their parents. So, they lack the values which is very important for them. I believe that family values play a very important role in the growth of the children.

      

My Mom's healthy food

Eating food made at home is not only important for your diet, but it is also important as a part of your personal well-being. We all know that homemade food is healthier than processed food but still we prefer to eat junk food. Every day after school my mom would have made my favorite dishes because she doesn’t like me and my brother to go outside and eat food which will make us sick. It’s not like we never ate food from outside but we usually eat food at home made by my mom. We are only out once a week with all of my family members and free to eat whatever we want to. My mom always cook food using fresh vegetables and she always make sure that she makes something which me and my brother love to eat, so that we’ll not go outside to eat street food. I think the increase of the advertisement make childrens eat more junk food. This is the reason why they like to eat food from stores not at home. They like processed food more than the homemade food because of the flavoring and then they get obese. I believe parents should take care whether his/her child is eating healthy food because if they will make their child favorite dishes at home than maybe he/she will prefer more likely to eat at home and there is one more good thing of eating at home, eating at home gives entire family time to talk about their day. My mom always makes sure that we eat healthy that is why she is my angel because she takes care of everything.

   

Key to success

I believe that a key to success is to respect other people. I think that if you can bring smile to someone face than that smile will make your rest of the day better. If you really want to be happy than learn to respect other people and their feelings. If you always respect your parents and can do anything to make them happy that you should be really proud of yourself. I believe to be a successful person always remember how to deal with other people and be respectful. If you will give respect to them then automatically they will respect you also. If you will not help others when they need your help than how can you expect them to help you. If you really want people to respect you than learn to respect them.

So always give respect to others and talk to them nicely, don’t show your attitude or disrespect them because you have power and they don’t. The lack of respect often leads to conflict. If you want to build a strong relationship than the first key step is to learn how to give respect. If you are a person who always give importance to respect people than it may create more opportunities for you. I believe to give respect in order to get it. Always show positive attitude. If you are respectful than people will like you, talk about you and give respect to you but if you are person who always disrespect others than people will also disrespect you.

              

Family is everything.

The love of a family is life's greatest blessing. I believe that family means everything in this world because they are the ones who always support you and show you the right path when you need their help. Family is your dad, mom, brother and sister. They all are true friends who comfort you when you are down. They always make sure that you eat healthy. They are the ones who can do anything to make you happy and care about you. Family is the one who always have time to play with you, go to the beach etc. I believe that no one is complete without family because it is our family that keeps us together. I am very thankful to God to give me such a blessed family. 

Parents teach us the moral values in life and to help others if someone need you and many other morals that could be obtained only from a family. I believe that if you have a family you are the happiest person in the world because than you have someone with whom you can share your problems and the children's who grow without a family are most likely to be unhappy. We should always give priority to our family especially your parents because they are the ones who always want to see you happy and successful. My family is very close to my heart and I love them very much. Family is everything to me and I am sure that it means same to you.

       

My Brother

I have one brother and his name is Inderbir and it is difficult to single out few of his characters to describe because I have so many memories with him. He is 17 years old and it is his last year in high school. He has done so many things especially to make me happy when I am sad. This is the one thing which I like the most in him. We have done so much fun together. We love to be together and do stupid things. During my high school years, we have so many memories that we can never forget. He is my inspiration in life and he is not just my brother, he is my friend. We may fight over on many things like watching TV or who will sit in front of the car but we still love each other and whenever I need his help he is always there for me and he always support me.

He usually go out and spend some time with his friends but he doesn’t like to go on family function or to meet relatives. And I always argue with him that why he doesn’t like to attend family functions. We have spent so much time together that now it's hard for both of us to live without each other. When we were small because my home was small so we spent most of the time together and fight between both of us was very common. Most of time my mom always supports me. And then he always gets jealous because my mom and dad always take my side. So my small and happy family is everything for me.

                                 

Importance of parents

Parents play a very important role in the life of their children. They guide their children and teach the moral values and help them to become a better person. "The most beautiful thing in this world is to see your parents smiling and knowing that you are the reason behind that smile". My parents are everything for me and I want to make my parents feel proud of me. They have always helped me and whenever I need them they are always there for me. It's true that sometimes we think that our parents are rude to us but I believe that if they stop you to do something than it is for your benefit only. They always want their children's to be happy and be successful in life. Whenever I ask my parents for something they have always given me but if they refuse to do so than it doesn’t mean that they don’t love you or they don’t care about you, may be its because it’s not good for you or some other reason. I am not saying that they’re always right but still you have to understand them because they can never think bad about their children's. It’s my dad dream to see me as a doctor and I will do anything to fulfill his dream. Because my parents have always given me whatever I want from them and now if they want something from me than I can do anything to make them happy. And if we’ll think the other way than it is for my benefit only to make my future bright. I am sure that even your parents can do anything to make you happy. We should always respect our parents and listen to them. I'd like to thank God for giving me such wonderful parents.

Journey To America

My small and happy family includes my dad, mom, brother and my grandma. Everything was going good in our life and we all were living normal happy life. One day my dad applied for the visa interview in the embassy even though we never talk about it or decide that we will go and visit other country.

My dad said “If we will get the visa than we will settle in the united states”.
My mother agreed with him and replied “If our kids will study in America than it will make their future secure.” Listening to this we all get very excited. So when we went to the embassy on our interview date, my legs were shaking and my palms were sweaty but my dad was sitting on a chair normally as he used to sit at home.

My dad said “Don’t worry, It doesn’t matter whether we will get the visa or not, just leave everything on your destiny.” We were waiting for our name to be called. Finally they called us and at the end of the interview only me, my brother, my dad and my mom got the visa but my grandma didn’t.

Instead of feeling lucky or glad that we receive the visas, we all were very quiet and looking at each other. We expected something else and now all of us were sitting as if someone robbed our house. My grandmother didn’t get the visa so we decided that we would not go anywhere. My grandmother was sad, but when she saw that we cancelled our plan because of her, that we did not want to leave her alone, then she convinced us to go because she knew how excited we were to visit United States. But my dad was not ready to leave her but finally she made him agree to her decision. On the other hand we decided that we would stay here only for a month and then we would come back.

On 22 April 2015, we took a flight from Delhi airport. Our layover was in Tokyo for three hours and then we took a flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. We all were missing her so much that even in the flight all of us were thinking that how will she manage everything herself, what will she do in her free time because usually in our free time we all sit down and share something that what interesting happen in our full day. Our relatives picked us from the airport. However, we only met them once, we only knew them because my cousin was married to their son but we used to call each other and talk at least once in a week. They took us to various places. We went to Disneyland and Universal Studios. To be very honest I can never forget the trip to Disneyland because we enjoyed a lot. We took many rides and it was lot of fun. The ride which I like the most was the big thunder mountain railroad and there were many more rides also which I enjoyed. And when we came back home than all of us talk to my grandmother and we send her pictures also and she was so happy to saw us happy.

Next morning, when all of us were sitting and talking, my dad addressed that we will stay here only for a month and than we will go back to India. Then my uncle replied, that instead of going back we should stay here. Moreover he advised that me and my brother should study here in America. He explain it to my dad that the education which they provide here in America is better than what they provide in India. Furthermore, we talked to grandma about staying in America. She said that if this step will make their grandchildren future bright, than she doesn’t have any problem with staying in United States, so then my dad changed his mind. We decided to stay here and we took admission in Central Valley High School in Ceres. In addition, we decided that we will apply for my grandmother’s visa again in the embassy, hoping that she will get the visa and we will live together and have fun as we did in India.

MY GRANDMOTHER

Everyone has one important person in their life. For me the most influential person in my life is my grandmother. I am from India and I came here to the United States in 2015. My small and happy family consist of my dad, mom, brother and my grandma. My grandmother taught more experience to me. Me and my brother always treat her as a best friend, so we share everything with her. In other words she is everything for both of us. She always makes us feel special and I know that she has a separate place for us in her heart. I believe that a garden of love grows in a grandmother’s heart.

My grandmother is an important part of my life. I still remember that day when I was 8 years old, and I saw cute, beautiful doll on T.V and I started crying because I told my dad that I wanted that doll. My dad refused by saying that “ you already have so many dolls and toys to play” and when my grandmother saw me crying, then she went to the store to get that doll for me. She is like my angel because she is so sweet that she always try to fulfill my needs. So she did so much for me that I can never forget. Furthermore, I believe that I do not forget her teaching forever. She is very active and hardworking. She is very polite, loving and caring.

My grandmother is a role model for me. She is an important part of my life. She is someone who can I trust more than anyone else. I feel blessed to have a grandmother like her because she can do anything for me. And I have so much respect for her in my heart that I can never go against her. I can not imagine my life without her. She is always willing to help me and always make sure that I eat healthy. In addition, I want to give thanks to God that he gave me such a friendly, nice, pure-hearted grandmother who can never hurt anyone. I can proudly say that my grandmother is my angel.