A DIVERSITY OF THANKS : Sikhs Share in the Spirit of the Holiday

While most Americans wait until Thanksgiving to work at a community kitchen helping the homeless, Sikhs--even those living in the United States--host free community kitchens every weekend.

Vegetables in curry sauce, lentils, rice pudding and wheat bread are the staples of the kitchen, held at the temple at White Oak Avenue and Chatsworth Street in Granada Hills. For Sikhs, sharing these foods with the public is a way of sharing their culture, which is rooted in the northern state of Punjab in India.

Many of the Sikhs in the San Fernando Valley are first generation in the United States, born in East Africa after their parents migrated from India. They are a minority both in India--where their 18 million population represents only 2% of the population--and in the United States.

Although the Sikh religion includes a harvest festival of its own, many Sikhs living in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving with all the traditional North American trimmings--and then some.

“We do have turkey. We do have Indian food. We do have a celebration,” said Kuldip Sadhal, president of the 150-member Ramgarhia sect of the Sikh religion in Granada Hills. “We celebrate Thanksgiving just like other Americans do. We are thankful that we are in this country and flourishing. We are thankful that we have freedom to practice our religion.”

This freedom is expressed every April 13 in another celebration of thanks, the Sikh harvest festival Vaisakhi, similar to America’s Thanksgiving. In India, the celebration can last for a week and features worship, the community kitchen and a festival similar to an American carnival.

Ramgarhia Sikhs such as Sadhal living in the United States often limit the Vaisakhi to one day of celebration, complete with worship and food. But it remains an important day.

“April 13 is the start of our harvest season,” Sadhal said. “If you look at the history of Northern India, it has been very agrarian. Everyone’s life is based on the agriculture.”

For Sikhs, wheat--not turkey, cranberries or corn--is a symbol of the harvest.

“Wheat plays a symbolic role,” Sadhal said. “Wheat is the most predominant crop over there. It’s a cash crop. Everybody eats bread made out of wheat.”

But for Sikhs, giving thanks is not limited to the harvest holiday or to the celebration of American Thanksgiving. “The whole idea of Thanksgiving is integrated into the Sikh religion and culture,” Sadhal said. Not only does this mean daily prayers, it means giving thanks on weekends and on special holidays.

“We are taught to be constantly thankful for what we have,” Sadhal said.