Bhutanese refugees mark Dashain in Melbourne

The Bhutanese refugees resettled in Melbourne, Australia held a cultural show in Melbourne on Saturday marking the Dashain festival.

The program featured a series of cultural performances in typical Nepali dress and songs, Sangini, Balan, Deusi, children dance and fashion parade exhibiting diversity of dresses from Bhutan.

Yonzon addressing the function.

“The costume parade was the show case of what ethnicity lives in Bhutan and education to the wider Australian and Nepalese communities,” Bhutanese Community in Australia (BCA) chairperson Parsu Luitel said. The costumes for the show were collected from Nepalese community in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Victoria.

Traditional Bhutanese and Nepali cuisines were served by Hilmayan Sherpa such as Emadachi (a traditional food from Bhutan), dahi chiura.

The program was attended by Hon George Lekakis, chairperson, Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC), John Gibson, President, Refugee Council of Australia; Sam Afra JP, chairperson, Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV), Chandra Yonzon, Hon Consulate General of Nepal in Victoria, Geoff Porter, Mayor of Hume City Council, Tony Ryan, Inspector Victoria Police Broadmeadows, representatives from Nepalese and Karen Burmese communities and government and non governmental agencies including 400 Bhutanese from Melbourne, Woodunga, Albury and Tasmania.




The function also featured a traditional Dashain ceremony where the guests received tika from priests and in return offered tika to all participants.

The Australian Karen Organisation’s chief of women department also performed Karen ‘DONE’ dance.

The VMC chairperson praised the BCA for its rapid progress and promised for more support from the government in creating opportunities and support to strengthen the community.

Hon Consulate General of Nepal in Victoria Chandra Yonzon shared his experience of settlement in Australia more than 25 years ago. He recalled the struggling days of Nepalese for settlement in Melbourne. He said, despite differences in nationality, Bhutanese and Nepalese share same culture and ethnicity.

The evening show, organised jointly by BCA and Nepalese community of Queensland, featured Lok Dohori Saj to support the Nepal Festival 2010 in Melbourne, scheduled for next month. The famous lok dohori artistes Badri Pangeni, Silla Aley and model-cum-singer Nisha Sunar enthralled the audience with popular Nepali items.



Pangeni expressed happiness that Nepali-speaking Bhutanese have really preserved the Nepali culture in action and deeds.