Another Handy Use for Headcoverings

Or, Men in Sikh Turbans Save Lives

Image of Super Sikh comic acquired from super-sikh.myshopify.com/

(Read the full stories by clicking the linked titles)

Today:

Farmer uses turban to save drowning teenage girl - Kamloops, Canada

"We were trying to look around for branches, and he just sprung to action, took off his turban right away, threw it in the water and pulled her to shore."

But wait, there's more! 

May 2015:  Man uses turban to help boy hit by car - New Zealand

'I saw a child down on the ground and a lady was holding him. His head was bleeding, so I unveiled my turban and put it under his head,' he said.

'I wasn't thinking about the turban. I was thinking about the accident and I just thought, "He needs something on his head because he's bleeding". That's my job - to help.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3084923/The-touching-moment-Sikh-man-breaks-strict-religious-protocol-removes-turban-help-save-life-five-year-old-boy-seriously-injured-hit-car.html#ixzz4CyM4yeUJ


September 2015: Men use turbans to save 4 men from drowning - India

Two heroic Sikh men have broken religious protocol by removing their turbans to help save four men from drowning.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3254377/Sikh-man-breaks-protocol-using-turban-save-drowning-youths.html#ixzz4CyNC3JnR 


June 2016: Man uses turban as a rope to save dog - Punjab, India

With the help of some bystanders, he managed to climb down the banks of the canal by holding one of his turban, which he used as a rope.

NOTE: Among the Sikhs, the Dastaar is an article of faith that represents honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. Sikh men and women wear the turban partly to cover their long, uncut hair (kesh). Normally turbans are only removed in the most intimate of circumstances, when bathing the head, or washing the hair.

Radio Interview with Headcovering Singer

How New Age singer Snatam Kaur surprised Oprah for her birthday http://bit.ly/1thQURX Shared via the CBC Radio Android App

"Her voice has been described as that of an angel.  

"For Snatam Kaur, singing is a kind of prayer. She's known internationally for her sublime sacred chant, an ancient practise known as kirtan."

Headcovering conversation starts at 20:15, in which she describes her turban as like a crown.

American Soldier - Sikh Headcovering

Times are changing. Read THIS, from The Sikh Coalition.

From the article:

"In addition to bringing legal action in Captain Singh’s case, the Sikh Coalition, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and McDermott Will & Emery filed another federal court lawsuit on March 29th, which demands that the Army accommodate three Sikhs’ articles of faith, including turbans, unshorn hair and beards, so that each can begin Basic Combat Training with their respective units in May 2016. The lawsuit was filed after the U.S. Department of Defense ignored a demand letter that was sent on March 23rd, and failed to provide decisions on their pending requests for accommodations. That litigation remains ongoing.

“Captain Singh’s case is a painful study in the onerous hurdles for observant Sikh Americans who want to serve their country,” said McDermott Will & Emery partner, Amandeep Sidhu. “With this historic accommodation, we hope that the U.S. military will finally move past protracted, case-by-case religious accommodations and recognize that the time for permanent policy change is now.”

Those Men's Headcoverings - The Turban

"Waris Ahluwalia, Sikh actor and designer, barred from flight over turban dispute "

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/waris-ahluwalia-flight-mexico-1.3439017
Shared via the CBC News Android App



Why do Sikh men wear turbans? According to Sikhnet.com,

The turban is our Guru's gift to us. It is how we crown ourselves as the Singhs and Kaurs who sit on the throne of commitment to our own higher consciousness. For men and women alike, this projective identity conveys royalty, grace, and uniqueness. It is a signal to others that we live in the image of Infinity and are dedicated to serving all. The turban doesn't represent anything except complete commitment. When you choose to stand out by tying your turban, you stand fearlessly as one single person standing out from six billion people. It is a most outstanding act.

So many responded to this article by the CBC with thoughts similar to: "It's just a hat!" "When you're here, dress like us!" "What? Are you above the rules because you're a celebrity?" "Why do we people bend the rules for foolishness?" - These responses don't even concede the point that there are many reasons and very deep ones for wearing the turban, for Sikh men and women. Further in the Sikhnet.com article, you find it really isn't as simple as taking off a ball cap:

The 10th Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh, taught his Sikhs to take the next step: Put a turban on the head covering the coiled, uncut hair. The pressure of the multiple wraps keeps the 26 bones of the skull in place. There are pressure points on the forehead that keep you calm and relaxed. Turbans cover the temples, which protects you from mental or psychic negativity of other people. The pressure of the turban also changes the pattern of blood flow to the brain. (These are all reasons that women should also wear turbans.) When you tie up your hair and wrap the turban around it, all the parts of your skull are pulled together and supported. You feel clarity and readiness for the day and for what may come to you from the Unknown.God is the Unknown. He is mastery as well as mystery. Living with an awareness of your God within you and the God outside of you (God in all) is an attitude. Covering your head is an action with the attitude that there is something greater than you know. Your willingness to stand under that greatness of God is expressed by taking the highest, most visible part of you and declaring it as a place that belongs to the Creator. Covering your head is also a declaration of humility, of your surrender to God. 

Pressure points, mental and psychic negativity of others, blood flow to the brain, the hair tied up and the turban wrapped around it, clarity, awareness, humbleness, a declaration of devotion ... not as simple as a ball cap that proclaims you're on some team or other.

Sikhcoalition.org puts it this way:

The dastaar, as the Sikh turban is known, is an article of faith that has been made mandatory by the founders of Sikhism. It is not to be regarded as mere cultural paraphernalia. When a Sikh man or woman dons a turban, the turban ceases to be just a piece of cloth and becomes one and the same with the Sikh's head.
The turban as well as the other articles of faith worn by Sikhs have an immense spiritual as well as temporal significance. The symbolisms of wearing a turban are many from it being regarded as a symbol of sovereignty, dedication, self-respect, courage and piety, but the reason all practicing Sikhs wear the turban is just one - out of love and obedience to the wishes of the founders of their faith. 

Think about it.

Wanted: Doctors In Head Coverings ... from Quebec

‘We don’t care what’s on your head:’ Ontario hospital recruits Quebec health workers 
By Carmen Chai Global News

An Ontario hospital is campaigning to recruit doctors and nurses from Quebec in the wake of the French province’s move to ban religious clothing in its contentious ‘values’ plan.

Head Coverings OK for Football and Soccer

So, I've been busy during the last month, but I'm sure that many head covering loved ones have heard a bit of the news during June concerning FIFA and Quebec and rulings about headcoverings. Here's a re-cap (pardon the pun):

June 14, 2013 -- The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) said in a statement Friday that it is temporarily authorizing the wearing of male head covers at all levels of Canadian soccer, applying a 2012 ruling that allowed specially designed hijabs for women.

wearing turbans to protest Quebec soccer fed's ban

The statement outlines certain rules for allowing the male headwear on the pitch.
“(FIFA) authorises the CSA to permit all players to wear head covers ... in all areas and on all levels of the Canadian football community,” the statement from the world body reads.
FIFA’s position comes four days after the Canadian Soccer Association suspended Quebec’s soccer federation because the provincial body banned Sikh headwear.  Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/soccer/FIFA+fine+with+Sikh+head+coverings/8526036/story.html#ixzz2XTYHiPy7

Yes, the Canadian Soccer Association had suspended Quebec over the turban ban, saying it had to intervene because the Quebec Soccer Federation showed no sign of overturning its decision. The suspension prohibited Quebec teams from participating in or hosting interprovincial matches and national competitions, thereby banning 20 Ontario teams - hundreds of players, coaches and spectators - from traveling to and competing in a tournament in Quebec.

Boycotts of QSF sponsors were threatened. And a Facebook page was opened to garner support against the ban.

The Quebec soccer federation, in typical "what are those headcoverings for anyway?" fashion, claimed safety precautions, and wouldn't budge on their ban until the world headquarters, FIFA, laid down an official international law.

So FIFA did.

And so:

June 15, 2013 -- The Quebec Soccer Federation (QSF) announced it has reversed its ban on players wearing turbans or related religious headwear on the pitch, saying it is pleased with the international soccer body's clarification on the issue, and it's "deeply sorry" if anyone was offended.

Oh, those nasty headcoverings. Ruining soccer/football games now. But, it's not the cloth that is the problem. The problem is not understanding those headcoverings.

As Amal Singh Chahal (who lives in Toronto and helped to put together the boycott page linked above) was quoted: “Excluding kids just because they have uncut hair and they’re keeping a turban to keep it tied is just unfathomable. I can’t believe it in this day and age."


Did you know that's why the Sikhs wear turbans? Because they have uncut hair and the turban keeps it tied up and clean? That's part of the reason. It is also a symbol of equality, begun in an era when only the high class wore turbans, showing that all Sikhs are equally royal. It is a symbol of their commitment and obedience to their faith, to God, and to those who came before them. It is said that the turban becomes truly a part of the believer's head, just as Sikhism is a part of his entire life. Even when playing soccer.

photo from CBC.ca

For more on "why Sikhs wear turban", see the following articles:

• Sikhism: What is the purpose of turban? from RealSikhism.com
• Why do Sikhs wear turbans? from Sikhnet.com
• Sikh Theology: Why Sikhs wear a turban from SikhCoalition.org

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Oh, and this just in: a Sikh bus driver just won the right to wear a turban in Finland. Just so you know.