Lunar celebration unites cultures

The South West Buddhist community will unite for a traditional celebration on April 21 to welcome the Lunar New Year.

The event will be shared by the Cambodian, Burmese, Sri Lankan, Thai and Indian communities as a joint project between the Bunbury Multicultural Group and the Multicultural Services Centre of WA.

Multicultural Services Centre settlement grounds officer Daravann Meek said the festival started as a means to keep the cultures of the community alive.

“We did it so younger generations would know what their culture is about,” she said.

A member of the local Thai community, Suphab Elstone, said her Lunar New Year celebrations were different to the Western new year.

“It’s special in Thailand,” she said.

“We normally celebrate it over April 12, 13 and 14 with a huge water festival.”

The Bunbury program will take place on April 21 at Cooinda Primary School and will start with a Buddhist ceremony and offering alms to the monks at 10.30am.

This will be followed by a guest speech from Maria Fitzgerald, of the Red Cross Respite Centre.

There will be plenty of entertainment in the form of Thai and Sri Lankan cooking demonstrations, as well as traditional dancing from Burmese and Thai.

The students from the school will also perform a Bollywood-style dance and a traditional Cambodian game will be on offer for people to join in.