Sikhs host candlelight vigil in remembrance of Sandy Hook victims

Sikh Religious Society of Palatine held a Neighborhood Community Interfaith Candlelight Vigil and prayers on Dec. 19 to honor the 20 first grade children and six adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Dec. 14.

The vigil was arranged to share the grief and in conjunction with funerals of the child victims that had begun to take place in Newtown that week.

More than a hundred community members and neighbors assembled in the Palatine Gurdwara compound, chanted prayers, and lit candles in memory of the deceased.

A special prayer “Ardaas” was supplicated by Bhai Gurjant Singh to pray for the departed souls and their families, and to seek peace, harmony and love in this world which is burning with anger and hate.

The Sikh Religious Society President Sukhdev Kaur Ghuman addressed the assembly and urged everyone to keep those killed and their families in their thoughts and prayers.

“We know how much it hurts, we have just been through it at the Oak Creek, Wis., Sikh Gurdwara shootings,” she said.

The vigil at the Palatine Gurdwara was organized by Sadh Sangat, Ghuman, executive secretary Gurdip Singh Sangha, and staff members Dr. Balwant Singh Hansra and Rajinder Singh Mago.

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