Festival of cultures

Yesterday we spent a happy few hours at the Palmerston North Festival of Cultures, eating curries and fish balls and dutch pancakes, watching dancers and musicians of various cultures and shopping for jewellery and crafts. The festival is “is a celebration of Palmerston North’s richness and diversity of cultures and is a great opportunity for new refugees and migrants to have a sense of place, feel connected and have a sense of belonging“.  I’ve been guilty of being somewhat derogatory about this city at times, but events like this make me pround of my ‘adopted’ home.  Looking around people from such a variety of cultures enjoying the day together, I wondered why it is that this kind of atmosphere of peace and happiness seems so difficult to achieve on larger regional and global levels.

(pictures shamelessly ‘borrowed’ from the Festival website)