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Celebrating Diversity with Diwali
We are celebrating diverse cultures' events, festivals, and language weeks in the centre to promote culturally responsive and intercultural pedagogy.
This week we celebrated Diwali. Diwali is an Indian festival, called the festival of light. It is celebrated as a victory of goodness over evil. Indian people celebrate it for Lord Rama who returned to the kingdom after 14 years of exile and his winning over King Ravan who kidnapped his wife Sita. People welcomed their King Rama by lighting up Diyas and firecrackers.
We organized various activities around Diwali and Indian culture to provide our tamariki with a glimpse of Indian culture and heritage. Our mokopuna actively participated in these activities such as making clay diyas and decorating them with paints and glitters, Rangoli patterns, coconut balls, and henna patterns.
They seemed so excited about these activities as they asked me so many times, "Satinder, what are we doing today for Diwali?" I loved their way of engaging in these activities and learning about Indian culture. We also cooked some Indian food in the centre; Idli, Poori, Chickpeas and Mango Lassi. The children relished this food.
These celebrations provide tamariki an opportunity to learn about diverse cultures and develop their respect and acceptance towards Aotearoa's multicultural community.