Oakes 1

Lindsey Oakes
Leaver
AP HuG 1
30 March 2016
Seeking the Sikh
Culture can be seen in different areas that have different religious beliefs
as a part of their daily life. One distinctive part of culture, especially in one specific
region of the world, is the tendency for religion to become an important aspect that
defines people and their way of life. Religion is often considered a part of existing
cultures, and as culture varies from on place to another, so does religion.
Religion incorporates itself in the daily lives of people in multiple regions. This
past summer, I was able to travel to Oregon on a mission trip. As a part of the week we
were to spend enveloped in the North-West Coast culture, we visited three separate
religions at their places of worship. One of the most distinct buildings was a Sikhism
temple. Prior to the trip, I had no idea what Sikhism was or its origins. This autonomous
religion, which what I viewed as a mixture of branches that included Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Christianity, had very few followers compared to its counterparts. Despite
this, the Sikh temple was able to substantiate itself because people of the religion
clustered around the available temple. Without the temple being located at this precise
region that was vernacularized by liberal views, this religion would not have been located
in this cultural melting pot because people would not be pulled in this region without
something they share religiously or cultural in common.

Oakes 2
This culture that shares the same religious varies from other distinct regions
because they have become more adapted to western culture. As I learned from the trip,
Sikhisms hearth was in India, and would therefore become more strongly practiced
because the religion is more traditional in that continental region. The Sikhism temple I
visited served us a meal after educating us on their practices. Most of the food was
prepared in Indian styles, but the most intriguing thing was they gave us coke and diet
Pepsi to drink. I found it slightly ironic that the delicious home-cooked Indian food was
paired with some of the most popular American drinks. The region that this religion
located itself in still reflects parts of their culture, but because of their location they have
become more westernized than other sects in India because of their constant exposure to
American culture.
Culture and religion tend to develop hand-in-hand, but this can differ as regions
are compared to one another and how this geography may affect how the culture or
religion develops in that particular region. There are multiple reasons why a culture and
its religion may vary depending on what area of the world or nation they occupy, such as
how the Sikhism temple was westernized or how they clustered because of the pull
factors of the temples location. Although some cultures are able to maintain fair
uniformity in select regions, there are a multitude of factors than can change these
circumstances and the culture depending on its location.

Oakes 3