Hindu Council of New Zealand will be celebrating the Raksha Bandhan Festival – Universal Fellowship and Veneration of Womanhood on Sunday, August 22 in Auckland.
This year the Hindu Council of New Zealand is also celebrating its silver jubilee, and to mark the occasion it is repeating some selected, unique programs from the previous years through its various Service Divisions.
Speaking to the Indian Weekender, Vinod Kumar President of Hindu Council of NZ said, “Raksha Bandhan festival is open to all, and it aims to bring community leaders and dance groups from several ethnic communities (more than 50 groups) together to celebrate this unique festival that promotes universal fellowship and veneration of womanhood.”
Kumar also told the Indian Weekender that the Council had big plans for several other community events through out the year, including two successful programs held recently - Rangoli and Mehndi Moko workshops at the Apumoana Marae, Rotorua on Saturday, May 15.
The second program was nationwide Health for Humanity Yogathon organised (from 12 June to 26 June) by Yogathon New Zealand, part of AROGYA (Aotearoa Research Organisation for Generic Yoga and Ayurveda).
Raksha Bandhan Festival is third in the series of programs being organised to mark silver jubilee celebrations.
“Following the success of our programs, more and more volunteers especially youth and women are coming on board to support and help with our Silver Jubilee celebrations,” said Vinod Kumar, President of Hindu Council of New Zealand.
“As part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, we are launching Hindu Women Forum during Raksha Bandhan festival in the presence of several ethnic communities,” Kumar said.
Some ethnic communities living in New Zealand who are expected to actively participate are from India, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Fiji, China, Korea, Japan and many more countries.
“This festival helps all volunteers, especially the youth and women from different groups, to grow their skills by volunteering, helping and organizing the festival,” said Mamta Bhikha, HOTA coordinator for New Zealand.
For uninitiated, HOTA is a forum of Hindu Organizations, Temples and Associations in New Zealand.
Every year, one of the HOTA Forum members becomes the host and leads and organizes this annual festival. This year Hindu Council of NZ is leading efforts in celebrations of Rakshabandhan.
