Cultures come alive for Zinda Festival

LODDON Campaspe Multicultural Services premier event celebrating different cultures in the region returns next month.

Zinda Festival is free and will be held at the Garden for the Future at the Bendigo Botanic Gardens on Saturday, 8 October from 3pm to 8pm.

LCMS CEO, Sonia Di Mezza, said the word zinda is used in many languages such as Hindi, Hazaraghi and Urdu, and means alive or lively.

“What this festival is about is really enhancing people’s knowledge of the cultural diversity of our region,” she said.

“The performers are predominantly from the Loddon Campaspe region. We could get them from Melbourne or Sydney, but we focus on this so people who live here can give their performances and people can learn more about them.

“When you have cultural diversity presented in that way, people who might not know about those cultures get to experience it, you have greater cultural connection and understanding.”

Dancers from Chinese, Indonesia and Filipino cultures will entertain, with African drumming and a Hazara fashion show also part of the program.

Local cultural food trucks will be on site, serving dumplings, Indian cuisine, Ethiopian street food and more.

Ms Di Mezza said the festival is designed for the community to learn about diversity in the region, but also for people from multicultural backgrounds to share practices and ideas with each other.

“It’s really good to be able to share your own culture but also if you’re from a culturally and linguistically diverse background to connect with other cultures and learn from them and collaborate,” she said.

“To have different cultures and different practices and to collaborate and strengthen each other that’s really fantastic, that connectivity.”