Sikh procession draws
Thousands for feast day
YUBA CITY 11/3/02 - More than 30,000 Punjabi-American Sikhs hailing from Turlock, Antioch, New York and other points north, south and east turned out Sunday for the 23rd annual parade marking the establishment of their religion, Yuba City Sikh Temple organizers estimated.
With flags and banners flying, the wildly colorful procession of turbaned and sari'd faithful set out from the temple on Tierra Buena Road about 11 a.m. It returned about 4 p.m. after making a six-mile loop around the seats of city and county government on Civic Center Boulevard, parade coordinator Harbhajan Dheri.
The parade is believed to be the largest single gathering of Sikh faithful on the West Coast, and many of the visitors have been coming to Yuba City for years to take part in the event, which celebrates not only the religion, but the unique culture that surrounds it.
"I've been coming to the parade all my life. If you walk all he way, it removes your sins," said Karen Sandhu, 19, of Sacramento.
Wearing an elegant maroon urban and girded with the ceremonial kirpan knife, the bearded Madan Aulakh, of Antioch, stood almost in the middle of Butte House watching the float bearing the Granth Sahib, the holy book of his religion.
"This day we celebrate the founding of Sikhism. Today was the day he fifth guru combined all the writings into the holy book, the Granth Sahib at Amritsar, where the Golden Temple is. This is the day he told us to follow Sikhism," Aulakh said.
There were many floats in the parade, including one from a Punjabi-American society in Chicago. However, the main attraction was the slow-moving float on which the Granth Sahib book was displayed on a canopied gold-colored ark, with the temple priest watching over it.
Four sweepers preceded the float, using brooms to keep the path of the book symbolically clean and pure.
On the float rode more than 20 temple elders and a few children. Recorded music featuring cymbals and drums announced its coming. Young boys holding dollar bills ran out to make donations.
"We're from Modesto, and we've been coming for 10 years, said Jasbir Grewal, who watched the ark go by, along with his 11-year-old daughter, Raman, and his 13-year-old niece Naimarta Rai.
"It's the free food," said the exuberant Raman Grewal. "It's great."
Rai returned to a more serious note. It seems one secondary theme of the event was historic.
"Today also celebrates the British, when the British left Punjab," Rai said.
Outposts of free food did indeed dotted the parade route, including one in front of Yuba City police headquarters on Poole Boulevard, where smiling men shyly offered servings of several ethnic snacks.
Rajinder Singh of Sacramento helped identify the appetizers. There was pakora (deep fried vegetables), kaju kei burfi (candied cashew paste) and sugary objects about the size and shape of macadamia nuts whose name eluded spelling and translation.
"Five years, I've been coming. Each year the newspaper reports 40,000 to 50,000 people were here. I don't know the number myself, but I believe it," Singh said of the estimates.
A.G. Gill, a tall turbanless Sikh from Manhattan said this was his first time at the Yuba City parade. He came to visit with friends. He enjoyed the event, he said, although coming from New York city, he was not so impressed with the size of the crowd.
"There are many Sikhs in other cities, but this is cultural and traditional. That's good," said Gill, who preferred to be known by his initials.
Thousands for feast day
YUBA CITY 11/3/02 - More than 30,000 Punjabi-American Sikhs hailing from Turlock, Antioch, New York and other points north, south and east turned out Sunday for the 23rd annual parade marking the establishment of their religion, Yuba City Sikh Temple organizers estimated.
With flags and banners flying, the wildly colorful procession of turbaned and sari'd faithful set out from the temple on Tierra Buena Road about 11 a.m. It returned about 4 p.m. after making a six-mile loop around the seats of city and county government on Civic Center Boulevard, parade coordinator Harbhajan Dheri.
The parade is believed to be the largest single gathering of Sikh faithful on the West Coast, and many of the visitors have been coming to Yuba City for years to take part in the event, which celebrates not only the religion, but the unique culture that surrounds it.
"I've been coming to the parade all my life. If you walk all he way, it removes your sins," said Karen Sandhu, 19, of Sacramento.
Wearing an elegant maroon urban and girded with the ceremonial kirpan knife, the bearded Madan Aulakh, of Antioch, stood almost in the middle of Butte House watching the float bearing the Granth Sahib, the holy book of his religion.
"This day we celebrate the founding of Sikhism. Today was the day he fifth guru combined all the writings into the holy book, the Granth Sahib at Amritsar, where the Golden Temple is. This is the day he told us to follow Sikhism," Aulakh said.
There were many floats in the parade, including one from a Punjabi-American society in Chicago. However, the main attraction was the slow-moving float on which the Granth Sahib book was displayed on a canopied gold-colored ark, with the temple priest watching over it.
Four sweepers preceded the float, using brooms to keep the path of the book symbolically clean and pure.
On the float rode more than 20 temple elders and a few children. Recorded music featuring cymbals and drums announced its coming. Young boys holding dollar bills ran out to make donations.
"We're from Modesto, and we've been coming for 10 years, said Jasbir Grewal, who watched the ark go by, along with his 11-year-old daughter, Raman, and his 13-year-old niece Naimarta Rai.
"It's the free food," said the exuberant Raman Grewal. "It's great."
Rai returned to a more serious note. It seems one secondary theme of the event was historic.
"Today also celebrates the British, when the British left Punjab," Rai said.
Outposts of free food did indeed dotted the parade route, including one in front of Yuba City police headquarters on Poole Boulevard, where smiling men shyly offered servings of several ethnic snacks.
Rajinder Singh of Sacramento helped identify the appetizers. There was pakora (deep fried vegetables), kaju kei burfi (candied cashew paste) and sugary objects about the size and shape of macadamia nuts whose name eluded spelling and translation.
"Five years, I've been coming. Each year the newspaper reports 40,000 to 50,000 people were here. I don't know the number myself, but I believe it," Singh said of the estimates.
A.G. Gill, a tall turbanless Sikh from Manhattan said this was his first time at the Yuba City parade. He came to visit with friends. He enjoyed the event, he said, although coming from New York city, he was not so impressed with the size of the crowd.
"There are many Sikhs in other cities, but this is cultural and traditional. That's good," said Gill, who preferred to be known by his initials.
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