Chinmaya Festival 2018
- bey0ndM@gz!ne
- August 25, 2018
- Events
- 0 Comments
The Chinmaya Carnival held at the Central Harbourfront Event Space was a huge success this year with over 5,000 people attending. Despite the sweltering heat, people came in droves to enjoy all the carnival had to offer.
This mega-family event, which is the third such carnival to be held by the Hong Kong Chinmaya Foundation (HKCF), aimed to showcase and celebrate Indian culture and customs in the territory. All the games were based on beloved children stories about different Hindu gods and the free entertainment included classical Indian dances and local talent singing performances. Attendees could also enjoy beautiful storytelling, Indian henna tattoos and face painting, cooking demonstrations and yoga sessions. And of course there was an assortment of delicious vegetarian food.
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The idea of a family focused carnival based on Indian culture and mythology was first introduced by Swamini Supriyananda – the resident ‘sanyasini’ (or Hindu monk) – who runs the centre here in Hong Kong. After seeing they way local people so proudly celebrate all their traditions and festivals such as Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn festival, as well as Western holidays such as Christmas and Easter, she wanted to bring a taste of Indian tradition to the territory. “There are so many Hong Kong people of Indian descent here and it would be great if they could proudly celebrate and share their culture with the rest of Hong Kong,” she remarked.
The HKCF held its first carnival – the Krishna Mela – in 2010 at the Kowloon Cricket Club. It was a great success with hundreds of people attending. This led to the organizers looking to do the same on a larger scale in order to share Indian culture with the wider local community. In 2016, the HKCF, in conjunction with the Central Harbourfront Event Space – held such a carnival. The Hanuman Carnival was an even bigger success with over 7,000 people attending.
The HKCF, a registered charity in Hong Kong, is a part of the Chinmaya Mission, a global non-profit organization with over 320 branches spanning 25 countries. Its mission is to share the ancient wisdom of the Hindu scriptures for spiritual growth and happiness, enabling individuals to become positive contributors to society. The Chinmaya Mission is involved in numerous charitable activities that benefit hundreds of thousands of people through its many schools, colleges, old age homes, hospitals and through rural development of remote Indian villages.
The HKCF has been in Hong Kong for over 25 years now. Led by Swamini Supriyananda, a spiritual teacher trained at the Chinmaya Mission in India, the HKCF runs regular classes on spiritual development and Hindu scriptures for adults and children. Its members also engage in several community service activities throughout Hong Kong.
By – Malina Kirpalani
