Young girls wearing the traditional dress of Kerala, in southern India, performed on Saturday on the forecourt of the Gisborne District Council building in an event to mark Onam, the annual harvest festival from that part of the country. Other dances were performed by different groups, including the women in their saris, and younger children.
Stalls served authentic Kerala dishes, including desserts like vermicelli payasam, gulab jamun (originating in Persia but later introduced to the Indian subcontinent), and unni appam, a small round snack made from rice, jaggery (cane sugar) banana, roasted coconut pieces, roasted sesame seeds, ghee and cardamom powder, fried in oil. Savoury dishes included pani puri, dosa, Kerala chicken fry and chicken biryani.
The event was organised by the Gisborne Malayalee community. It follows an international food festival held earlier this month in the Gisborne Boys’ High School hall which attracted 600 people. The next event on the multicultural council’s calendar is Diwali, the Festival of Lights, at the end of October. Japan Day will also be celebrated then, with the Wellington taiko drumming group Narukami performing in Treble Court on October 28, and later at the Festival of Lights.
