FESTIVAL
the chilly morning air.
Temple leaders set up a table with speakers and microphones near the flagpole right in front of the temple as people started to gather and move closer to the flagpole in anticipation of the Nishan Sahib Sewa.
A group of men young and old lowered the flag pole and removed the flag in order to clean the pole. Once it was lowered hundreds of people came forward and assisted in cleaning the pole as buckets of soap and water were passed down the length of the 50 foot poll. Sikh Temple President Jaswant Bains said anyone can participate in cleaning the poll. Those who came forward wore no shoes out of respect. As the pole was cleaned, prayers were sung by temple leaders.
The inside of the temple was packed on both sides with a line of people walking down the middle of the room to the alter where the holy scripture was being read by a priest. The Guru Granth Sahib, or holy scripture, is 1,430 pages long and is read in it’s entirety continuously from Friday morning to Sunday morning. People brings monetary and other gifts and place them in a pit in front of the holy scripture and bow down after depositing their gift.
Penny Sandhu, the founder and CEO of Jus Broadcasting sat under one of the tents that lined the front of the temple where international television and media companies set up shop. Based in New York, Jus Broadcasting has a Punjabi language channel called Jus Punjabi which broadcasts the festival around the world to their viewers. Today they had eight cameras and two drones covering the event. “Wherever they are they all watch,” Sandhu said.
Malkiat “Mike” Hoonjan took off his Harley-davidson biker jacket to show off his T-shirt from the Iron Butt Association that displayed his nickname the “Flying Sikh.” Hoonjan is part of The Legendary Sikh Riders, a motorcycle group that comes every year from Vancouver, Canada. “We’re not who you think we are,” Hoonjan said. “We’re the good guys, not the bad guys.”
Parpat Singh was hard at work cooking saag, a kind of mustard green, along with other delicacies in massive pots in the main kitchen tent. Singh lives in Yuba City and has been a cook at the festival for 19 years. Singh started his day cooking at 4 a.m.
The shopping bazaar was bustling with people going from tent to tent looking at jewelry, rugs and other items on sale. Prabhneet Singh, 13, sat in a chair getting fitted for a turban by Noveleen Thiara who works for Turban Flow a Dallasbased company that sells turbans with unique prints. “Beyond sales it’s more about the vision we have to emancipate the view of Sikh people,”said P.J. Singh who works for Turban Flow.
Friends and Yuba City residents K.J. Singh, Jas Singh and Gopi Singh were standing around a portable light fixture where plates of saag and makki di roti, a kind of corn based bread, sat. K.J., who was drinking Indian style tea, said his favorite part of the festival was not the food
but the fellowship and religious aspects of the weekend. “We meet all our friends and family,” K.J. said.
Beth and Don Murphy had just arrived at the festival from Oroville and weren’t sure the procedure for getting into the winding lines for the different food tents. It was their first time attending the festival they heard about the event from family who lives in Yuba City. “I just didn’t want to do something wrong,” Beth said.
A mix of Sikhs in their traditional turbans and non-sikhs wearing provided head scarfs sit barefoot in Dasmesh Hall for a seminar that briefly introduced Sikhism and was followed by local community leaders being honored by the temple leadership.
The festival will culminate in the parade that takes place Sunday following the completion of the reading of the holy scripture in the morning. Those who wish to attend can park at River Valley High School and take shuttles over to the temple.