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Manage subscription. Some colors like orange, blue, and white are traditionally worn during religious celebrations or occasions. Red is traditionally worn during Sikh weddings. I have more than 20 different turbans, each a different color. The Sikh turban is a long piece of cotton, typically up to six yards long and one to two yards wide.
Your mileage may vary. Mine sure does. I tend to wear shorter, narrower lengths of fabric, which I re-tie every day. To put it on, I fold the cloth several times a process called making the pooni into a single layer that I then wrap concentrically around my head in four layers or a larh , but more often Sikhs wrap turbans around five or more times.
You can watch a similar process at your own risk here. A dumalla is a larger, rounder turban. There is a smaller round turban tied by some Sikh men. Sikh women who tie turbans tend to wear round ones as well. Within this style, there are regional differences — British Sikhs and African Sikhs tend to wear smaller, sharper turbans using starched cloth compared to North American Sikhs, whose turbans are generally softer.
Indian Sikhs will often tie larger turbans. Apparently, size matters. I typically get my turbans from South Asian fabric shops, online turban retailers, or at Sikh festivals. As for care, many people will hand wash their turbans, though I put mine in the washing machine set on the delicate cycle and hang to dry. When I was a kid and my hair got long enough, my mother would tie on me until I could what is known as a patka — basically, a rectangular cloth tied around my head like a bandana that covered my bun of hair.
Most boys will wear a patka until they learn how to tie the full turban, and many will instead have a handkerchief just covering their hair bun on the top of their heads. Sikh men will also often wear a patka when playing sports. Sikhs are supposed to keep their heads covered when in public. Some in the community say they have turned to the turban as they feel it helps give them an individual identity.
Jasjit Singh, a research fellow at Leeds University, has spent the last few years interviewing women who have begun to wear the turban. He says there are many reasons why they are doing it. The Punjabi community is still very patriarchal but these girls tell me that Guru gave a uniform to all Sikhs - and so why shouldn't they wear the turban as well. The idea is an interesting one. Some might find it curious that, in order to seek equality, a woman might dress like a traditional Sikh man.
But others argue a woman wearing a turban is a sign of empowerment. Sarabjoth Kaur, 25, from Manchester, is one of them. She began wearing a turban two years ago. She appears draped in royal blue robes with a matching tightly wrapped turban.
It has a metal shaster, a type of ancient Vedic weapon wedged into the front. Sarabjoth, a former bhangra dancer, says her faith became stronger after she witnessed devout white Sikhs wearing the turban whilst worshipping in India. And some men in Afghanistan do not wear turbans at all, but rather a distinctive Afghan hat. Iranian leaders wear black or white turbans wrapped in the flat, circular style shown in this image of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The word turban is thought to have originated among Persians living in the area now known as Iran, who called the headgear a dulband.
Indian men sometimes wear turbans to signify their class, caste, profession or religious affiliation — and, as this man shows, turbans in India can be very elaborate. However, turbans made out of fancy woven cloths and festooned with jewels are not unique to India. As far away as Turkey, men have used the headgear to demonstrate their wealth and power.
The kaffiyeh is not technically a turban. It is really a rectangular piece of cloth, folded diagonally and then draped over the head — not wound like a turban.
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