I am from the far north and west of India - the Punjab region. My grandparents are from Lahore, which is now in Pakistan. I can tell you the people that live on or close to the border are pretty similar, and there is a subset of Pakistani Muslims that do wear turbans; just as there are some Indians that wear turbans. But it is a small proportion.
Hell, Indian men still wear turbans when they get married. I don’t expect Americans to tell the difference, but the Hindu/Muslim ones are sort of pre-shaped. You don’t wrap them around your head, you just put them on your head like a sort of hat. Sikh ones are mostly wrapped around the head, with an enormously long cloth; it’s because (presumably) of the long hair, and besides that’s what their Gurus said to do.
My grandfather or great-grandfather probably wore a turban. It was part of his iman; his honor.
But nowadays no one in my family does. Even though I am Punjabi I am not Sikh. (Even Indians assume all Punjabi people are Sikh). My dad wore one when he got married, though, and if I had gotten married in a traditional Hindu wedding, my husband would have also.
I just read the article from Skald. Here is a little more information.
The Sikhs have five k’s in their religion:
kach - the iron bracelet they all wear on their arm
kirpan - the curved blade they wear
kang - a wooden comb
kes - long hair
kacha - specific type of cotton underwear
An iron bracelet reminds you that God has no beginning and no end.
Sikhism is a warrior culture and protection of the innocent is their highest calling; hence the blade.
The comb is obviously to keep your hair NEAT and TIDY. I am sure there slobs amongst Sikhs like anywhere, but it’s against their normality.
Hair is a gift from God, so it is not to be cut. Men and women.
And the underwear is to remain pure and clean and outside of the influence of the Five Evils.
So you see, Sikhs wear the turban out of convenience for all of that hair - although it is mandatory to wear it, and is called a Dastar.
Indian turbans are called pagri. A pagri is a symbol of honor and respect.
Muslims have in the past worn a very long elaborate turban which is also a symbol of honor and respect.
Missed the edit window. acsenray raises another point - how different Indians are. It really isn’t like here, where I go from New York to Mass and it’s pretty much the same. It’s radically different from state to state in India. Fourteen languages and like 700 different dialects, different clothes, different religions, different customs. Two people may call themselves Hindu and believe in completely different things.
So if Hindus are that different, to assume that all brown people are one religion or another is ignorance of a staggering sort. I admit I don’t expect much different, though, and am always impressed when an outsider knows the least bit about my culture.
Yes he does wear a turban in many photos. The Keffiya is something of the Levant and the Peninsula, in Africa it is the turban that you wear if you wear such traditional dress. People seem to think the people of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant are typical of all muslims, it is not true.
Anyway, he does wear a turban. I tried to google it but it came up with a picture of Osama with his head shaped to look like a dick. Haha fucking funny. This is with “moderate” safe search on. Thanks, google.
But if you do google him, and you google Hindu groom, you can very clearly see the difference in the turbans.
Ramira is right. Again, I point you to the vast difference between myself and ascenray, who both call ourselves Hindus. If we can be so different, why the hell wouldn’t Muslims be just as varied?
We won’t even mention the gazillion sects of Christianity. It would be like saying “those damn Christians, speaking in tongues like they do.” All the Christians would be all “That’s just the Pentacostals; what the fuck are you on, man?”
Bengali grooms don’t even get to ride in on a white stallion. It’s by river boat and then a teeny-tiny, boxy palanquin-like conveyance. And, of course, those things are hard to get in most places, so it’s by Ambi and then by foot.
…Ambi? do translate, for in my language an Ambi is a small mango and I have images of you trying to get to your bride on a small mango…
Is that a picture of you, btw? Did you wear one when you got wedded?
Of course, a good number of the Pentecostals would claim that the non-glossalians are not true Christians because they don’t speak in tongues, and several sects of of the non-glossalians would claim that Pentecostals are not Christians for entirely different reasons. Protestants especially are very…tribal.
