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Punjabi culture

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Punjabi culture grew out of the settlements along the five rivers, which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE.[1] Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership.[1] The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan".[1] Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land.[1] Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.[2]

Music

Bhangra is one of the many Punjabi musical art forms that are increasingly listened to in the West and becoming a mainstream favourite.[3] Punjabi music is used by western musicians in many ways, such as mixing with other compositions to produce award-winning music. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practiced in Punjab, Pakistan; are other important genres in the Punjab region.[4][5]

Dance

See also: Punjabi dance

Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with traditional musical instruments. Bhangra is one of the most famous dances originating in the Punjab by farmers during the harvesting season. It was mainly performed while farmers did agricultural chores. As they did each farming activity they would perform bhangra moves on the spot.[6] This allowed them to finish their job in a pleasurable way. For many years, farmers performed bhangra to showcase a sense of accomplishment and to welcome the new harvesting season.[7] Traditional bhangra is performed in a circle[8] and is performed using traditional dance steps. Traditional bhangra is now also performed on occasions other than during the harvest season.[9][10]

Weddings

See also: Punjabi wedding traditions

Punjabi wedding traditions and ceremonies are traditionally conducted in Punjabi and are a strong reflection of Punjabi culture. While the actual religious marriage ceremony among Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians may be conducted in Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Hindi or Pali by the Qazi, Pundit, Granthi or Priest, there are commonalities in ritual, song, dance, food, and dress. The Punjabi wedding has many rituals and ceremonies that have evolved since traditional times.

Cuisine

See also: Punjabi cuisine

Punjabi cuisine has a wide range of dishes and enjoys world wide popularity. Many entrepreneurs have built large personal fortunes by investing in the sector promoting Punjabi cuisine which uses a uniquely appealing spice palette. Punjabi cuisine has become popular in the world due, not only to its intrinsic quality, but also due to the Punjabi diaspora promoting popularity and visibility in the western world including the UK, and the U.S. Some of the most popular dishes include Butter Chicken, Tandoori chicken, Dal makhni, chicken tikka lababdar, Saron da saag and stuffed or un stuffed naans (a type of unleavened bread).

Tandoori chicken is a popular dish in Punjabi cuisine.

Language and literature

See also: Punjabi language

The Punjabi language is written with the Gurmukhi alphabet in India and with the Shahmukhi alphabet in Pakistan. Approximately 130 million people speak the Punjabi language.[11]

In Punjabi literature, there are three major Punjabi romantic epic poems based on folktales: Heer Ranjha by the poet Waris Shah (1722-1798), Sohni Mahiwal and Mirza Sahiban (sung by late Alam Lohar).[12] By the 10th century, many Hindu Nath poets were associated with earlier Punjabi works. Among the major Punjabi poets are Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1179-1266), Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and Bulleh Shah (1680-1757).

Dress

Main article: Punjabi clothing
Dastar
Main article: Dastar

A Dastar is an proud of headgear associated with Sikhism and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the dastār is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The Khalsa Sikh men and women, who keep the Five Ks, wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair (kesh). The Sikhs regard the dastār as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was sentenced to death by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru created the Khalsa and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the dastār covers.[13] Prior to Sikhi, only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.[14]

Sari

Sari is also a favourite clothing to wear when it comes to punjabis, Lahore is known to wear the most saris, phulkari is the most loved sari design in punjab.

Punjabi suit
Main article: Shalwar kameez
Punjabi traditional dress in India

A Punjabi suit that features two items - a qameez (top), salwar (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people.[15][16][17] Shalwars are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[18] The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic.[19] The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the chaak[note 1]), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The combination garment is sometimes called salwar kurta, salwar suit, or Punjabi suit.[21][22] The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn,[23][24] and national dress,[25] of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck.[26] The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders.[27] Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.[28]

Festivals

See also: Punjabi festivals, List of Sikh festivals, List of Hindu festivals in Punjab, and Festivals in Lahore
Main articles: Punjabi festivals and Festivals in Lahore

The Punjabi Muslims typically observe the Islamic festivals.[29][30] The Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus typically do not observe these, and instead observe Lohri, Basant and Vaisakhi as seasonal festivals.[31] The Punjabi Muslim festivals are set according to the lunar Islamic calendar (Hijri), and the date falls earlier by 10 to 13 days from year to year.[32] The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar or Punjabi calendar and the date of the festival also typically varies in the Gregorian calendar but stays within the same two Gregorian months.[33]

Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals,[34] and they being declared haram (forbidden in Islam).[35]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English: chāk derives from the Persian "چاك ćāk, Fissure, cleft, rent, slit, a narrow opening (intentionally left in clothes)."[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Nayar, Kamala Elizabeth (2012). The Punjabis in British Columbia: Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-4070-5.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Moreno, Jacqueline. "Bhangra conquering one dance move at a time". The Observer. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  4. ^ Pande, Alka (1999). Folk music & musical instruments of Punjab : from mustard fields to disco lights. Ahmedabad [India]: Mapin Pub. ISBN 978-18-902-0615-4.
  5. ^ Thinda, Karanaila Siṅgha (1996). Pañjāba dā loka wirasā (New rev. ed.). Paṭiālā: Pabalikeshana Biūro, Pañjābī Yūniwarasiṭī. ISBN 978-81-7380-223-2.
  6. ^ Pandher, Gurdeep. "Bhangra History". Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Bedell, J. M. (23 May 2017). Teens in Pakistan. Capstone. ISBN 9780756540432 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Black, Carolyn (2003). Pakistan: The culture. ISBN 9780778793489.
  10. ^ "Pakistan Almanac". Royal Book Company. 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "Punjabi language and the Gurmukhi and Shahmuhi scripts and pronunciation". Omniglot.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  12. ^ "Punjabi facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Punjabi". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  13. ^ “Importance of turban in Sikhism”, earlytimes.in. 2018-05-29.
  14. ^ "Sikh Theology Why Sikhs Wear A Turban". The Sikh Coalition. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  15. ^ Dominique, Grele; Raimbault, Lydie (1 March 2007). Discover Singapore on Foot (2 ed.). Singapore: Select Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-981-4022-33-0.
  16. ^ Fraile, Sandra Santos (11 July 2013), "Sikhs in Barcelona", in Blanes, Ruy; Mapril, José (eds.), Sites and Politics of Religious Diversity in Southern Europe: The Best of All Gods, BRILL, p. 263, ISBN 978-90-04-25524-1, The shalwar kamiz was worn traditionally by Muslim women and gradually adopted by many Hindu women following the Muslim conquest of northern India. Eventually, it became the regional style for parts of northern India, as in Punjab where it has been worn for centuries.
  17. ^ Khandelwal, Madhulika Shankar (2002), Becoming American, Being Indian: An Immigrant Community in New York City, Cornell University Press, p. 43, ISBN 0-8014-8807-9, Even highly educated women pursuing careers continue to wear traditional dress in urban India, although men of similar status long ago adopted Western attire. The forms of dress most popular with urban Indian women are the sari, the long wrapped and draped dress-like garment, worn throughout India, and the salwar-kameez or kurta-pyjama, a two-piece suit garment, sometimes also called Punjabi because of its region of origin. Whereas the sari can be considered the national dress of Indian women, the salwar-kameez, though originally from the north, has been adopted all over India as more comfortable attire than the sari.
  18. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 1272, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3, Salwar/Shalwar: A pair of light, loose, pleated trousers, usually tapering to a tight fit around the ankles, worn by women from South Asia typically with a kameez (the two together being a salwar kameez). Origin From Persian and Urdu šalwār.
  19. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 774, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3, Kameez: A long tunic worn by many people from South Asia, typically with a salwar or churidars. Origin: From Arabic qamīṣ, perhaps from late Latin camisia (see chemise).
  20. ^ Platts, John Thompson (February 2015) [1884], A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English (online ed.), London: W. H. Allen & Co., p. 418
  21. ^ Shukla, Pravina (2015). The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India. Indiana University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-253-02121-2. You can buy an entire three-piece salwar suit, or a two-piece suit that consists of either a readymade kurta or a kurta cloth piece, each with a matching dupatta. For these, you must have the salwar pants stitched from cloth you buy separately. A third option would be to buy a two-piece ensemble, consisting of the top and pants, leaving you the task of buying an appropriate dupatta, or using one you already own, or buying a strip of cloth and having it dyed to your desire. The end result will always be a three-piece ensemble, but a customer may start with one piece (only the kurta) or two pieces (kurta and pants, or kurta and dupatta), and exercise her creativity and fashion sense to end up with the complete salwar kurta outfit.
  22. ^ Mooney, Nicola (2011), Rural Nostalgias and Transnational Dreams: Identity and Modernity Among Jat Sikhs, University of Toronto Press, p. 260, ISBN 978-0-8020-9257-1, The salwar-kameez is a form of dress that has been adopted widely in Punjab and is now known in English as the Punjabi suit; J. P. S. Uberoi suggests that the salwar-kameez is an Afghani import to Punjab (1998 personal communication). Punjabi forms of dress are therefore constructs or inventions of tradition rather than having historical veracity.
  23. ^ Marsden, Magnus (2005). Living Islam: Muslim Religious Experience in Pakistan's North-West Frontier. Cambridge University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-139-44837-6. The village's men and boys largely dress in sombre colours in the loose trousers and long shirt (shalwar kameez) worn across Pakistan. Older men often wear woollen Chitrali caps (pakol), waistcoats and long coats (chugha), made by Chitrali tailors (darzi) who skills are renowned across Pakistan.
  24. ^ Haines, Chad (2013), Nation, Territory, and Globalization in Pakistan: Traversing the Margins, Routledge, p. 162, ISBN 978-1-136-44997-0, the shalwar kameez happens to be worn by just about everyone in Pakistan, including in all of Gilgit-Baltistan.
  25. ^ Ozyegin, Gul (2016). Gender and Sexuality in Muslim Cultures. Routledge. p. 222. ISBN 978-1-317-13051-2. What is common in all the cases is the wearing of shalwar, kameez, and dupatta, the national dress of Pakistan.
  26. ^ Rait, Satwant Kaur (14 April 2005). Sikh Women In England: Religious, Social and Cultural Beliefs. Trent and Sterling: Trentham Book. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-85856-353-4.
  27. ^ Shukla, Pravina (2015), The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India, Indiana University Press, p. 72, ISBN 978-0-253-02121-2, Muslim and Punjabi women—whether Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu—often wear the dupatta over the head to create a modest look while framing the face with color. When entering a temple, Hindu women might comparably use their dupattas to cover their heads. Though the dupatta is often made of flimsy cloth and does not actually cover the body, its presence implies modesty, like many of the outer garments worn by Muslim women that do not cover much but do provide a symbolic extra layer, ...
  28. ^ Koerner, Stephanie (2016), Unquiet Pasts: Risk Society, Lived Cultural Heritage, Re-designing Reflexivity, Taylor & Francis, p. 405, ISBN 978-1-351-87667-4, The Pakistani National dress worn by women is Shalwar Kameez. This consists of a long tunic (Kameez) teamed with a wide legged trouser (Shalwar) that skims in at the bottom accompanied by a duppata, which is a less stringent alternative to the burqa. Modern versions of this National dress have evolved into less modest versions. Shalwar have become more low cut so that the hips are visible and are worn with a shorter length of Kameez which has high splits and may have a lowcut neckline and backline as well as being sleeveless or having cropped sleeves.
  29. ^ Official Holidays 2016, Government of Punjab – Pakistan (2016)
  30. ^ Official Holidays 2016 Archived 2018-09-01 at the Wayback Machine, Karachi Metropolitan, Sindh, Pakistan
  31. ^ Census of India, 1961: Punjab. Manage of Publications
  32. ^ Jacqueline Suthren Hirst; John Zavos (2013). Religious Traditions in Modern South Asia. Routledge. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-136-62668-5.; Eid ul-Fitar, Ramzan Id/Eid-ul-Fitar in India, Festival Dates
  33. ^ Tej Bhatia (2013). Punjabi. Routledge. pp. 209–212. ISBN 978-1-136-89460-2.
  34. ^ The ban on fun, IRFAN HUSAIN, Dawn, Feb 18, 2017
  35. ^ The barricaded Muslim mind, Saba Naqvi (August 28, 2016), Quote: "Earlier, Muslim villagers would participate in Hindu festivals; now they think that would be haraam, so stay away. Visiting dargahs is also haraam"

Other sources

  • Wrestling in Punjab, documentary film on the history of wrestling in Punjab by filmmaker Simran Kaler.
  • Quraishee 73, Punjabi Adab De Kahani, Abdul Hafeez Quaraihee, Azeez Book Depot, Lahore, 1973.
  • Chopra 77, The Punjab as a sovereign state, Gulshan Lal Chopra, Al-Biruni, Lahore, 1977.
  • Patwant Singh. 1999. The Sikhs. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50206-0.
  • Nanak, Punjabi Documentary Film by Navalpreet Rangi
  • The evolution of Heroic Tradition in Ancient Panjab, 1971, Buddha Parkash.
  • Social and Political Movements in ancient Panjab, Delhi, 1962, Buddha Parkash.
  • History of Porus, Patiala, Buddha Parkash.
  • History of the Panjab, Patiala, 1976, Fauja Singh, L. M. Joshi (Ed).
  • The Legacy of The Punjab by R. M. Chopra, 1997, Punjabee Bradree, Calcutta.
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