By : Vish Viswanathan.
Colour and culture mark New Year festivities
For the fourth consecutive year, the Tamil Arts and Culture Association (TACA), a leading Tamil association in Sydney presented its annual Chithirai festival titled ‘Sydniyil Chithiraith Thiruvizha’, to mark the Tamil New Year.
The day long festivities were conducted in a grand and colourful manner and included a fantastic display of Tamil folk arts and culture at Rosehill Gardens in Rosehill. Thousands of Tamils from all backgrounds like India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Mauritius and other parts of the world attended the event, including other nationalities. The Chithirai festival is the only one of its kind celebrated by the Tamil community for an entire day, that is a family event with traditional arts, culture and food.
The highlight of this year’s ‘Chithrai Tiruvizha’ was a superb display of folk music and dance items presented by over 20 folk artistes from Iyal Isai Nataka Manram from Tamil Nadu. Led by Deva, their President who also a very popular music director with over 400 movies to his credit, the troupe included a whole range of talented artistes who delighted an appreciative audience with their repertoire.
VIP guests included the Hon. David Clarke MLC – Parliament Secretary for Justice; Hon. David Elliot, MP and Parliament Secretary; Mr Geoff Lee, MP; Mr Tony Issa, MP; the Hon. Michelle Rowland, MP; Mr John Robertson, MP; Mr Gurdeep Singh, Deputy Mayor, Hornsby; Ms Julia Finn, MC; Ms Melissa Monteiro, from CMRC; Reena Jethi, Liberal candidate for Legislative Council, NSW; and Susai Benjamin, Labor candidate for Seven Hills.
Welcoming the invited guests and the community members, Mr. Anagan Babu, President of TACA stated that the organistion is dedicated to the cause of Tamils and their contribution in the multicultural Australia. He also emphasised that it was encouraging to note that the contribution by Tamils is being recognised by the Australian and State Government in NSW.
Also at the venue were a large number of food stalls offering a variety of delicious Tamil cuisine to community members. The children’s entertainment group provided many rides and fun activities.
The Sydney Chithirai festival was supported by various other Tamil organisations like the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation, SBS Tamil Radio, media and other businesses. It was an entertaining day out for all attendees to enjoy the flavours, tradition and culture of the Tamil community.