The Gurdwara

Guru = The Guru (The spiritual teacher, which is the Guru Granth Sahib)

Dwaar = House

Gurdwara = The Guru’s home

The Sikhs believe that the Guru Granth Sahib is their spiritual teacher.

1. The Guru Granth Sahib

2. The Langar

This Gurdwara is in Southall. Outside of India, it is one of the busiest Gurdwaras in the world

You always have the Guru Granth Sahib as the focal point. The ladies will sit on one side, and men on the other. Sometimes there are musicians singing hymns from the holy scriptures.

In western countries, or countries outside of India, there will sometimes be a big screen to translate the hymns and show the congregation.

Langar is a big kitchen, where free, vegetarian food is served 24 hours a day. Anyone is allowed to come and eat.

Originally, Langar was started to feed the poor and needy.

Anyone is allowed to come to a Gurdwara. In fact, here are pictures of some famous people who have visited the Golden Temple (the most popular Gurdwara) in Amritsar, India:

The Golden Temple (also known as the Harmandar Sahib, which means God’s home) is the most famous of all.

1. It has 4 doors on each side of the complex. This is to show that people from all ‘4 corners of the world’ are welcome

2. It is surrounded by a tank of Holy Water, where some people come to bathe.

3. It serves Langar for free to over 100,000 people a day! (click here for more info)

4. The gold on the temple was donated by a very rich Sikh King who lived over 150 years ago.

5. The Sikh Guru at the time asked a Muslim Saint to lay the foundation stone to show love and equality to people of all faiths.

You will work in pairs to make a model of the Golden Temple!!!

You can have a look at this video on youtube for guidance on how to make it: