Diwali Festival of Lights - Sunday 19 October

Indian music, food and dance to light up Wellington at Diwali

A renowned dance troupe from northeast India will help Wellington celebrate Diwali Festival of Lights this weekend.

The Sattriya Dance Theatre from Assam will take the stage alongside local performers offering non-stop, family-friendly entertainment at Wellington’s annual Diwali Mela festival.

The festival runs from 1pm till 10pm on Sunday 19 October at TSB Bank Arena and Shed 6 on Queens Wharf, and ends with a spectacular display of fireworks off the waterfront. Entry is by gold coin.

Festival-goers will enjoy mouth-watering vegetarian fare at 18 food stalls representing a range of South Asian cuisines. More than 20 Indian retail and information stalls and a range of workshops are also on offer.

Diwali event producer Murali Kumar, of Communities Action Trust NZ (CATNZ), says Wellingtonians should look out for surprise street performances this week.

“The range of Diwali activities is bigger than ever. On the festival day on Sunday, we’ll have energising and colourful performances on two stages, leading up to an elaborate finale performance that will tie into the fireworks.”

Diwali, or Deepavali, symbolises the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil and the renewal of life. It involves the lighting of small oil-filled lamps (diyas) and candles to symbolise the inner light that protects people from darkness.

An ancient Hindu festival, Diwali is now also celebrated by other faiths in India and in overseas Indian communities. Families celebrate with gatherings, clay lamps, fireworks, sharing of sweets, and worship to Lakshmi - the goddess of love, wealth and prosperity.

New Zealand’s public Diwali festivals give Indian communities the opportunity to share their traditions with other cultures. More than 15,000 Wellington residents are of Indian heritage, according to the 2013 Census.

The Sattriya Dance Theatre is led by Dr Menaka Bora, an award-winning dancer and choreographer who has performed in many countries and is an artist-in-residence at Oxford University. Bora’s mother Indira PP Bora was one of the first women to practise the Sattriya dance form, which was originally created in the 15th century for performance in monasteries in Assam. Sattriya is one of India’s eight classical dance forms.

The group will also perform at two Wellington region schools, Waterloo School and Amesbury School, which are part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s network of schools.

Te Papa is also holding a public Diwali programme on Saturday, 18 October, featuring the dance group and Wellington’s Jyoti Gosavi, an award-winning rangoli artist. Rangoli is an ancient art form in which symbols are hand-drawn in colourful powder on the floor to bring luck and prosperity. http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/WhatsOn/allevents/Pages/RangoliFloorArtforDiwaliFestival18OCT.aspx

Diwali Festival of Lights is presented by Wellington City Council in partnership with Asia New Zealand Foundation.

To read more about the traditions of Diwali, visit http://asianz.org.nz/our-work/arts-community/diwali-festival-lights/background-diwali

The programme for Diwali Wellington: http://asianz.org.nz/sites/asianz.org.nz/files/2014_Diwali_Wellington_Programme.pdf

ends

© Scoop Media