Karen community celebrates culture

In a flurry of colour, culture, music and food, the Karen community is celebrating its first festival in Palmerston North.

More than 100 people from the Karen state in Myanmar gathered at the Palmerston North City Library on Saturday to celebrate their culture and tradition.

The day was about coming together as one community in New Zealand, Eh Taw Sa said.

As the local New Zealand Karen Association secretary, Sa said it was important for members to keep passing their beliefs down through the generations.

‘‘It’s very important because of our tradition and our culture disappears, then we as a people also disappear.’’

The association has been holding events for Karen people in Auckland for more than a decade.

However, it was the first time the festival, known as a wrist tying festival, was held in Palmerston North. With people travelling from Auckland and Wellington for it.

The festival takes place in August, all over the world, and is the tying of red and white thread around people’s wrists.

It encouraged people to contribute and preserve the Karen culture, wherever they were in the world.

Ju Say, from Lower Hutt, said the tradition came from their ancestors who tied white thread together and prayed to ward off darkness and to return light.

‘‘These celebrations started a long, long time ago,’’ she said.

It was important to continue their traditions in New Zealand, as well as invite other cultures to learn about them, she said.

Amid music, cultural dress and traditional food, Cicilia Dwe, Auckland’s association secretary, said there were also important themes throughout their celebrations.

Water, sugar cane, sticky rice, rice flour, banana, coconut and thread were all symbolic items woven into the day to represent cleansing, kindness, unity, togetherness, growth and family duty, success, light and ancestry.