The Importance of the Turban

Symbols. We all have them, we all use them. A symbol has only one main objective – to broadcast meaning, to signify something. It can be as simple as using numerals for numbers (e.g. 1 is a symbol of ‘one’) or your own name. It can be as complex as the Occupy movement symbolising a wide range of issues within the current state of capitalism.

The symbol of the turban has had a few shifts in the last 600-700 years. A lot of people in western culture aren’t aware just how wide the turban’s influence is over the centuries, from Africa and the West Indies, to the Middle East and South & Central Asia.

It is in the Middle East and South & Central Asia where the turban is most popularised, and is mostly what the western world symbolises it for – they are after all, home to the world’s biggest community of Muslims and Sikhs. Muslims wear either black or white turbans because that’s what their revered prophet Muhammad wore during his lifetime. For Sikhs however, the turban holds enormous meaning in their culture – previously used only for those in nobility, today, all adult men are required to wear the turban by Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the founding Ten Gurus of Sikhism. As well as the turban worn to show respect to him, the turban also symbolises righteousness, courage, dedication and self-respect.

The turban means different things to Sikhs. For comedian and broadcaster Hardeep Kohli, wearing the turban is something he is hugely proud of.

He says,

“I have members of my family who have served in the Armed Forces of India back for generations. Sikhs are a massive part of the military of India, and have been historically for centuries, one way or another.”

Kohli also makes some observant comments about the mainstream perception of Sikhs.

“I think people get hung up about Sikhism being about its symbols. And I do think that people sometimes forget about the philosophy, the spirituality, the writings, the living your life of Sikhi that is incredibly important… should be more important, I think, to a lot of people. My turban constantly reminds me of that.”

Kundalini Yoga expert Guru Kaur agrees.

“When you wear a turban, you are standing under something which is taller and bigger than who I am. It represents something bigger than me, and that’s a very powerful way to live my life.”

Kaur, an English born and raised white woman with a Classics degree in Kings College London, converted to Sikhism in the early 1990s. She finds the turban very comforting, and attributes it to healing her of sunstroke while she was in India at the time.

“It felt like… and any women [reading] this will know exactly what I mean… It felt like finding a pair of shoes which you’ve been longing to find – the most comfortable pair of shoes ever. And that’s what it felt like putting a turban on, and I’ve worn it every day ever since.”

Jay Singh-Sohal, who interviewed both Kohli and Kaur, was behind an exhibition on turbans called Turbanology in 2011. A Sikh himself, he understood that there were misconceptions about what the turban represents, especially in western culture.

“The turban’s become synonymous with terrorism and Bin Laden,” he explained at the event. “What we want to do is address that full on by saying that the turban is empowering, it has positive values, it has spiritual values.”

There will also be a number of short films which will be uploaded weekly on YouTube which will see Sikhs talking about what the Turban means to them, filmed for a series called #MyTurban.

Having researched on the turban, my respect of Sikhism has grown tenfold. As a little boy growing up in Hackney and attending a primary school in Stamford Hill, I had no negative generalisations about Sikhs, neither did I have any positive ones. To me, they were just them, being libertarian in their lifestyle. I suspect people who weren’t knowledgeable about Sikhs felt the same way, which could explain the increase of racial abuse at Sikhs after 9/11. That’s not to say that anyone deserves to be racially abused – it’s just that the turban became the symbol of the darker side of humanity using religion as a cover.

The campaign to change mainstream perception of what the turban signifies shows the awareness the Sikhs have of their goals, and their passion in differentiating themselves from other people.

Perception is reality, after all.

Elikem Jubey