An idea of bringing every ethnic community on a common platform that started in 2016, has grown leaps and bounds with over 1,600 people attending the fourth Multi-ethnic Dance Festival organised by the Nepalese Cultural Centre New Zealand (NCCNZ), early this month in Auckland. There were over 21 different performances, with participants belonging to 31 ethnicities. There were 11 cultural stalls as well, some serving multi-ethnic food, some selling artefacts and souvenir from various regions of the world.

Explaining the reasons behind such an initiative, Kamal Shrestha, President of NCCNZ noted, “Our organisation was established in 2008 with an objective to provide and promote Nepalese Culture to the wider community, as well as live in New Zealand with peace and harmony, while retaining the values and traditions of the Nepalese culture. We also runs regular Nepalese language classes. During the past twelve years, we have organized several events that have helped Kiwis learn about the Nepalese culture. But recently, our goal has also been to help communities in New Zealand understand each other’s culture and traditions as well. That’s why we thought of having an annual multi-ethnic dance festival.”

Some of other initiatives of NCCNZ are organising the Nepalese festivals of Mha Puja, trips to temples during the Bijaya Dashami Festival, and Nepalese culture orientation programs for Kiwis.

-TIN Bureau