Diwali Celebration

We had a HUGE crowd to celebrate Diwali last night!  We have a large Indian population in our community and although Diwali is celebrated in different ways (across India), we had a wonderful time last night!  For our youngest patrons we hosted a brief storytime with a beautiful Diwali book The Diwali Gift by Shweta Chopra.  After our story time we packed our meeting room with 125 people who were able to watch ten talented young girls dance in three classical Indian dances.  The costumes, makeup, music, and dance were all beautiful!  And the girls did such a great job.  After the dance presentation, the elementary-age students got the chance to hear a Diwali story with puppets,  make tissue paper flowers, and Diwali cards they could send to family and friends.  But that wasn’t all, we also had traditional Indian food and talented artists doing mehendi.
I truly enjoy living in such a divers community, I get the chance to learn new culture and customs all the time.  By offering celebrations from different cultures, it is our hope that someone comes to us offering to help create a program about their own celebrations and customs.  We’ve done bilingual storytimes with the help of patrons, Chinese New Year celebrations, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas and more!  Not only is it a great experience for children who are familiar with and celebrate these cultures, but it’s also a place to learn and respect other people’s cultures.