BY STATE MEMBER FOR CAPALABA RUSSELL FIELD
DIWALI is back at the Capalaba Bulldogs this year and it is good to see it return.
My wife Ann and I went along last year.
It was a well-run afternoon with a big crowd, music and dancing, plenty to eat, and the how of lights once the sun went down.
The organisers did a good job of making it easy for people who had never been to one before.
Diwali is often called the Festival of Lights.
It is the biggest day on the Hindu calendar and one of the biggest for people of Indian background more broadly.
It is celebrated across India and wherever Indian families have settled, including here in the Redlands.
The name refers to rows of lamps, and that is the simplest way to understand the day.
Families decorate their homes, light small lamps, share sweets and a meal, and get together.
It is a time for family and a fresh start and for many it marks the beginning of a new year.
Locally, the Indian community has grown steadily over the past decade.
You can see that in the businesses that have opened across the Redlands, some of them now among the most awarded in the region.
Diwali is one of a growing number of cultural events on the local calendar.
The Polish community hosted its Wiosna spring festival only recently, and there are others through the year run by groups who have made the Redlands home.
Each one adds something new to see and experience.
Halloween is another one. It was barely a thing when I was growing up, and now there are whole streets across the city that decorate for it and plenty of local kids who dress up for the occasion. There will be no shortage of things to do this weekend.
This year’s Diwali celebration is from 3-9pm at the Sam Sciacca Sports Fields on Old Cleveland Rd, home of the mighty Capalaba Bulldogs Football Club.
