GURUNG CULTURAL DAY 2016

Date : Oct 26, 2016

Posted By : Admin

Event Description :

Tamu Samaj Victoria has organized its very first “Gurung Cultural Day 2016” to share the knowledge about Gurung identity and culture among Gurung community residing in Victoria. The idea was to have one day in a year just for ourselves, Gurungs, to discover topics such as who we are, what identity and culture we have inherited, what past signifies us, and how we preserve and refine the identity in future years. The event aimed to support Tamu Samaj Victoria’s mission to preserve and promote Gurung identity and culture in Victoria.

 

Event Programs and Schedule

0/ Event opening and MC – Mabi Gurung

1/ Gurungs and their history – Kiran Gurung

2/ Cultural Centre community workshop – Arun Gurung

3/ Gurung language training – Ram Gurung

4/ Free food and Tasting of Gurung traditional food – TSV and Kathmandu Cottage

5/ Gurung dress competition – kids

6/ Gaito Futaune, Thelo Falne, Face painting – Amrita Gurung, Kiran Gurung, Jum Gurung

7/ Prize Distribution and closing ceremony

8/ Miscellaneous – Annual membership renewal and Donations – Dipu Gurung and Milan Gurung

 

One day event was organized on Sunday, 16/Oct/2016 at Harold Stevens Athletic Facilities, Outlook Road, Coburg North. Over 70 people young and old from all over Victoria gathered to celebrate the day. Few Gurung families from Nepal also happened to join us. The event coordinator Mr Mabi Gurung along with a number of volunteers made the program both informative and fun day. Since it was the first time to organize such an event just focusing on Gurung identity and culture, the program tried to include most of the aspects such as presentations on Gurungs and their history, Gurung language, Gurung traditional food and “Bhate Jaand”, Gurung dress, Gurung traditional sport activity “Thelo Falne” and update on ongoing Cultural centre initiative.

 

First presentation was given by Mr Kiran Gurung on Overview of Gurungs. He has done an excellent review and homework to compile available published literature on Gurungs. Many aspects of Gurungs were not recorded until very recently, and also not accurately, therefore there are quite many variations to the understanding of the Gurung history and culture. Mr Kiran’s presentation touched very lightly on geographic locations of Gurung population in Nepal, traditional men and women dress, a typical village house, tradition (use of Priests Pachyu, Ghyabre, and Lama), and beliefs and religion. Former vice-president Mabi Gurung, President Pahalman Gurung and Former president Min Prasad Gurung also contributed their very valuable understandings on these topics to the audience.

 

Next we had free delicious Nepali food sponsored by Tamu Samaj Victoria, and catered by Kathmandu cottage restaurant. Kathmandu cottage also brought in a set of traditional Gurung (Nepali, from hilly region) food which included “Kodo ko Dhido”, “Bhattmas ko chatni”, “Gundruk”, and “Maas ko daal”. Besides, the special feature was an authentic “Bhate Jaand” homemade by Mr Mabi Gurung. A brief introduction was given to the audience especially the young ones who might not have yet seen or tasted the traditional food.

 

After the lunch, an update on the Cultural centre progress was presented by Cultural centre coordinator Mr Arun Gurung. Mr Arun started with a bit of background of Tamu Samaj Victoria and how the idea of Cultural centre floated. He also briefly highlighted the needs for the ambitious initiative. Then President Pahalman was invited to add on, who very well explained and appealed to the audience to support the cause which will be very important to preserve and promote Gurung identity in Victoria. Since the inception of Cultural centre committee conceived on Buddha Jayanti 2015 program last year, the initiative has taken a good momentum with confirmed 29 monthly contributing members so far and total funding raised close to $50,000/-. The update noted that despite these results the targets are still way off and need more members to come forward as well as more activities to be held in coming months. Towards the end, there was some community consultation/suggestion time where some put forward their constructive ideas. Mr Hari Gurung advised that every Gurung individual would have to feel about the initiative and then only would he/she support it. Mr Kiran Gurung raised the importance of organizing more cultural activities per year to get Gurung community especially younger generations familiarize with Gurung identity and culture. This would strengthen as well as bring us closer. Mr Ram Gurung added that the committee should be more active in organizing fundraising events to reach the Cultural centre funding targets. At the end Mr Arun thanked everyone for the time listening and giving feedback, and urged to get on board in whatever capabilities to make the project materialize sooner than later.

 

Afterwards, Mr Ram Gurung gave an introductory training on Gurung language. He noted that Gurungs without standard written scripts have developed different oral dialects as they migrate to different parts of the Nepal over a period of time. Some dialects are similar, others quite different. The training was quite overwhelming for some who have almost forgot the tongue, others who struggle to understand the speaker’s dialect, or even other younger ones who never thought of such an alien language. Yet the speaker was quite knowledgeable and had done his preparation, everyone enjoyed it and promised to speak to each other in Gurung language when meet next time.

 

Then we had the traditional Gurung dress competition for kids – boys and girls. All dressed up in their beautiful dresses, they did a few rounds of catwalk in front of judges. This is a perfect activity to get the next generation Gurungs to know more and feel proud of Gurung identity and culture. Sports activities for male “Thelo Falne” and for female “Ghaito Futaune” were participated enthusiastically by many. Kids had face painting activity. The health and fun aspects are highly regarded and practised among Gurungs. Traditionally “Thelo Falne” winner was celebrated by throwing a big party, many families eager to give away their daughter to marry him as the winner was regarded to be the epitome of the healthiest and strongest in the area.

 

Finally, the prize distribution ceremony was held, gifts and presents were handed down to the winners by President Pahalman Gurung. He thanked the audience to participate, the event coordinator and volunteers for organization, and also encouraged everyone to contribute to Tamu Samaj Victoria to keep Tamu identity and culture thriving in Victoria. He hoped the event will become better and bigger next year.

 

Behind the day’s core activities, annual membership renewal of Tamu Samaj Victoria was accepted and well taken care by Treasurer Dipu Gurung and Assistant Treasurer Milan Gurung. Voluntary donation towards food cost was also welcomed and collected.

 

For further details and enquiry, please contact Event coordinator Mabi Gurung, President Pahalman Gurung and Secretary Amrita Gurung.

 

Thank you.

Tamu Samaj Victoria

(Event reporting by Arun Gurung)