Activities and Schedule

The Atlantic Coast Sikh Association (ACSA) holds Diwans -- religious gatherings -- every Sunday, starting at 11:30 am, lasting until around 1:30 pm. At the conclusion of the diwan, the community gathers for a meal in the basement of the gurdwara.

History

Though founded in 1969, the ACSA purchased its physical property in 1985 from a Unitarian Universalist fellowship. The physical plant includes two boxy cinder block buildings. The larger is the worship hall for diwan. The smaller is a parsonage for the gurdwara’s granthi (spiritual leader). The group plans on expanding its center by building a new worship hall between the two exiting buildings, connecting them and creating a single structure. Under this plan, the old worship hall will become a kitchen and dining area.

Demographics

The community is entirely Punjabi, most of whom are immigrants from the post 1965 period, as well as many children. The language of worship is Punjabi, but because English is the first language of many second generation American Sikhs, the community uses a computer projector to display transliterations and translations of the Punjabi prayers.

Membership:

Approximately 150 families are members of the ACSA. Of these families, many have children. This represents about a third of the Sikh families in the Triangle and Triad regions.

Affiliations:

The ACSA has an informal association with the Sikh Gurdwara of North Carolina. The two groups are the result of a split in 1985, and they represent the only two Sikh groups in North Central North Carolina. Both are in Durham. The nature of the split concerned the response to the martyrdom of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh figure whose death at Indian military hands in June of 1984 resulted in violent retaliation by Sikhs against Hindus, followed by counter-retaliations. The martyrdom led to a fissuring of the Sikh community into moderate and hardline responses, which in the case of the Durham Sikh community evolved over time into conservative and liberal branches. The ACSA adapted a more moderate response, and is today the more liberal of the two gurdwaras.