For the 20 million Sikhs worldwide, Dec. 22 marks the birth of the 10th Sikh guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

Four days earlier on Dec. 18, 237 local Sikhs attended a night of skits and songs at Quinlan organized by Cupertino resident Jessi Kaur.

"What makes this guru so unique is that the caste lines were strictly drawn in India when he was alive. There were moguls who said that the people had to accept Islam or get beheaded, that no one but Muslims could wear turbans," Kaur said. "This man said, 'We're not going to take it.'"

Kaur and her husband, Gurjot Singh, have been organizers of the Bay Area chapter of the International Institute of Gurmat Studies for 12 years. The institute, which spreads the message of the Sikh gurus, has long held a celebration of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji in Southern California. This year's event took place in Walnut, near Los Angeles, on Dec. 25. But as far as Kaur knows, the Quinlan event was the first public observance in the Bay Area.

As is with all religions, there are many legends and stories of the bravery of those who believed that have been handed down over the years.

The Sikh religion is only about 500 years old, and Kaur said many of the stories and the gurus who modern-day Sikhs follow occurred about 300 years ago. This was a very formative time for the relatively young religion, including the influence of the guru they were celebrating on Dec. 18. "His father, the ninth guru, gave up his life for freedom of worship," said Kaur, who named the event "Light Up Your Sikh Spirit."

"We live by love, compassion and equality. There is only one race, and that is human," said Kaur.

With the help of the Quinlan Center and the approximately 250 local families on the institute's email list, Kaur managed to plan the event in just six weeks. The two-hour program included skits of Sikh legends that children, including Kaur's son, re-enacted. One such skit included two youngsters being "buried alive" behind a stage wall to commemorate two Sikhs who chose such a death rather than give up their religion.

"That one made the audience cry," Kaur said. "[The children] really became the people who lived in those times."

And songs have come down through generations, too. Children sang several of these during the celebration.