 By Linda Carlson and Jaspal Singh
Yesterday I saw an elderly Caucasian woman at the grocery store wearing a cobalt blue colored head covering. It was a long cotton scarf, with folds wrapping around that had been sewn into each other; it covered her head and ears; it was a turban. After a brief glance, no one in the store stared at her. So I wondered…What exactly is a turban? Where did they come from? Westerners consider the turban as only being the Muslim traditional head dress of a long scarf wrapped around (or a checked scarf draped) over the head. This is a mistaken assumption.
The English word turban comes from Persia, and is used in English to refer to several sorts of “turban” head wear. Westerners are aware that turban wearing spread to many parts of the world by Arabic Muslims through their invasions and trade; and today many Arabic style turbans are seen across Arabia to Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, religious groups have worn their own distinctive Turbans for centuries. Leo Frobenius, a German historian, proved that people first began to wear Turbans in the Sudan in ancient times; these beautiful turbans and clothes of the Sudanese were used in Africa before Muhammad was even born, or before Ethiopian culture reached inner Africa.
In Western countries men wearing turbans are likely to be Sikhs. Sikhs have worn their carefully wrapped (7 foot scarf) as a visual connection to GOD, since the instruction on Baisakhi Day of 1699 by the Tenth Master, Guru Gobind Singh. After giving Amrit (the Sikh ceremony of rebirth) to the Five Beloved Ones (5 men who preformed the first initiation of Amrit in 1699), Master guru Gobind Singh, gave Sikhs bana, the distinctive dress that includes the turban. It is how Sikhs crown themselves as the Singhs (men) and Kaurs (women) who sit on the throne of commitment to their own higher consciousness.
For men and women alike, this projective identity conveys royalty, grace, and uniqueness. Men do not cut their hair, and carefully knot it on the top of their head; then spend at least half an hour every morning, carefully folding the layers of their turban in a particular fashion.
Purpose of Sikhs Colored Turbans
“Sikhs generally wear one of the following three colors: white, deep blue, and saffron orange. White turbans are worn to extend the aura and the person’s projection. Royal blue or navy blue turbans are common among Sikh ministers and gyanis, especially in India. The blue is the color of the warrior and of protection. Saffron orange is the third Sikh color and is commonly worn by Sikhs worldwide. Orange represents wisdom. Black turbans can represent surrender of the ego. Other colors of turbans don’t have a significance associated with them. Sometimes it’s just a case of fashion, of matching a turban to a business suit, for example.” (http://fateh.sikhnet.com/s/WhyTurbans#Sikh%20and %20Turbans) A Sikh’s turban is never just “a piece of cloth.” It is his crowning connection to God.
India’s Rahasthani Turbans
Gurjjar, Jats, and Rajputs from the Indian State of Rajasthan also wear distinctive turbans. Jats wear a white turban, while the Gujjars and Rajputs generally wear coloured turbans (white turbans being used only during the time of mourning). Royalty in different parts of India had distinctly different styles of turbans, as did the 'peasants', who often wore a small piece of cloth wound around their head.
Lastly, in America there were “turbans’’ noted in the Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cherokee, Pawnee, Arikara and as late as the 19th Century - the Seminole tribes; so remember…not all Turbans and their wearers, are the same.
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