Tuesday, 6 February 2024

Tamil Heritage Month

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (14:03): Millions of Tamil people across the world celebrate Tamil Heritage Month in January as we mark the annual harvest festival, which is a time of thanksgiving for the abundance of nature. There were a number of events over the month in Melbourne, and I especially want to mention Australian Tamil Sangam and Tamil Festival Australia for hosting two very successful events amongst many across the state.

This year the Australian Tamil Festival was hosted in Nunawading. Over 5000 members of the Tamil community attended a wonderful carnival of music, dance, stalls, rides, food, games and so much more. This was an area that we moved to when we migrated to Melbourne over 30 years ago, and if you had told me that one day it would be possible for thousands of our Tamil community to be supported to gather nearby to celebrate and showcase the best of our culture and talents, I would not have thought it possible, such is the strength of this community that I am so proud to be a part of and represent. This highlights the value of local and other government support to community organisations.

As Tamils from Sri Lanka we have known what it is like for our language, culture, aspirations and homelands to be oppressed, we have known what colonialism does to our ability to keep our histories alive and we have felt how displacement scatters our families across oceans and continents, and that is why so many of us stand steadfast in solidarity with First Nations people here and everywhere. To have events like these to know and feel our culture and take our kids to when we are so far away from our other homelands is so very special. Thanks to all the hardworking organisers who made it such a success for all of us to enjoy.