The Ponder Room

The five F’s behind a community festival (Swan Festival of Light 2014)

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By on Community, Health, Inner city life, Inspiration, Movies, Music

Inner city life is never dull and this week Langley Park was taken over with a massive stage, two rows of tents, tempting aromas and fireworks, what more could a girl want. This years Swan Festival of Light also taught me about the five ‘f’s’ that underpin a successful community festival. 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

 

Thanks to Australia’s growing multiculturalism I was aware that there was an Indian festival held around this time. However I know very little about Indian culture. Before the publicity I didn’t know that the festival was called Deepavali or the ‘Festival of Light’. But what does that mean?

 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

Friendship

Turns out the festival celebrates ‘awareness of the inner light’ that’s in us all and that ‘light’ symbolises hope, peace, harmony, knowledge, joy, truth and unity. It’s about ‘universal compassion and love’. I can say that the mood at the festival last night was definitely one of love and friendship. From the stallholders to the crowd and the security guard I felt very welcome, even when I asked really dumb questions that showed my ignorance about Indian culture. 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

Fireworks

The essence of light was wonderfully conveyed in a fireworks display at the end of the evening. I have a passion for fireworks and these were brilliant. Set off further up the park, they were so close that you could almost feel the cinders raining down on you (almost). Sadly my camera skills never seem to capture them though so here’s another night shot instead.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

Food

The smell of the fireworks was drowned out by what can best be described as Vegetarian/Vegan heaven. I know multiculturalism has given us much more than a wide variety of food options, but it’s really hard to go past them, especially when they’re laid out before you. The aromas were a wonderful. It was so hard to decide what to buy.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

 

Like most festivals these days the food stalls operate on a coupon system. Most of the meals were supplied by Annalakahmi on the Swan and cost around $8 to $10. They include things like Mee Goreng; vegetable korma; pulau rice and vegetable curry.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

I tried the Dosia, a rice and lental pancake recipe which is 3000 years old. At least I think it was 3,000, either that or 300, I was over the other side of the park near the camels (yes camels) so am not sure I heard it right. Apologies if I have that wrong. 

 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

My Dosia was filled with potato masala. The pancake was thin, feather light, crisp, spicy and served with chutney and samba. A completely new taste for me. I loved it and will definitely be ordering it again if I see it anywhere.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

I marvelled at the thinness the chefs achieved, over and over again without any errors along the way. 

 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

If you don’t feel like a full meal there was also a range of snacks including samosas; curry puffs; vegetable fritters. I tried the savoury lentil donuts which were another great surprise (2 for $3). Why haven’t we seen these at other festivals? I can’t begin to describe the taste other than to say they’re delicious and the perfect size to eat on the run. Someone should enter these into that Recipe to Richest cooking show. 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

There was a range of the sweets too including: Bombay Halva; Pista roll; Cham, Cham of ricotta cheese and Ribbon murruku (crisps made from rice) to name a few. Each sweet treat was $2. Pleasingly they came wrapped, or in a container so I was able to bring two home.

Fashion

On the other side of the park was a fashion tent that oozed rich colour and trinkets.

 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

Fun and entertainment

Next to this tent were camel rides and henna painting to add to the fun.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

 

Armed with my lentil donuts I wandered down to the seated area near the stage to watch the incredibly energetic professional dancing from The Temple of Fine Arts. After a spirited Welcome to Country the crowd was on their feet learning Bollywood dance moves. I was surprised to see how everyone instantly joined in as soon as they were asked. It was a great way to start the show.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

 

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

Also on the bill was a very talented husband, wife and son trio. The mother, Kavitha Kirshnamurth (I hope I have that correct) is a famous Indian singer who’s sung in many movies evidently. I can see why, while I  couldn’t understand what she was singing her range was astounding and the tunes mesmerising.

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

Festival of Light © The Ponder Room

 

 

As I wondered home with a takeaway curry for tomorrow night I pondered:

  1. How much Perth has changed. An event like this would never have happened during the 1970’s. Back then the most you could hope for in terms of multiculturalism was a pizza and a Chinese takeaway if you were lucky.
  2. The messages of compassion, love and joy behind the Festival of Light are something we could all be reminded of at the moment.
  3. Another wonderful example of community spirit and communities joining together.
  4. The Dosia chefs, along with all the other stallholders are going to have a very long weekend.
The Festival runs from 22 October to 26th

It starts from 4.30pm each day and is free to enter.
For more information go to Swan Festival of Light
For more information about the food go to http://www.annalakshmi.com.au/ 
Fore more information about the entertainment go to http://smv.org.au/

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2 Comments

  1. malika jegasothy on

    When all the celebrations come to an end and it is just hard work in the clean up, it is great to get feed back like this. I know we touched many hearts , as reflected in the support of the volunteer force. It is great to know that the community who came and made this a successful festival, took away the feeling of Celebrating together.
    Thank you for the feedback/ rumination.

    Reply
    • The Ponder Room on

      Hi Malika apologies for the late reply. It was my pleasure I had a wonderful time on all the times I visited. Thank you for your feedback, in the same way it is very nice to know that people read your blog. All the best.

      Reply

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