Celebrating India’s Republic Day and Festivals- For Children

Kids Join us on Sunday January 29th 10:30- 12:30 for Celebrating India’s Republic Day and Festivals at the India Community Center. This is a FREE event but registration is required.

Make a Flag , join in a parade for Republic day
Decorate a kite for Makar Sakranti
Enjoy special snacks for Lohri and Bihu
Kolam art for Pongal
Story telling from Kumoan Region

Giving away old clothes and helping with the clothes drive.

The Festival of Lohri marks the beginning of the end of winter and the coming of spring and the new year.Lohri is celebrated throughout Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu. A bonfire is lit in the evening and people toss sesame seeds, gur( Jaggery), sugar candy on the bonfire, sit around it, sing and dance till the fire dies out. During the day, children go from door to door singing folk songs and they are given sweets and savories, and occasionally, money.

Makar Sankranti is a major harvest festival celebrated in states of Bihar, Bengal, Maharastra, Gujarat, it commemorates the beginning of the harvest season . It is one of the few Hindu Indian festivals which are celebrated on a fixed date 14th January every year.In Maharashtra, there is a custom of exchanging sweets made of jaggery, as the first sugarcane crop for the year is harvested during the period. Colorful kites are flown in celebration

Bihu is the national festival of the state of Assam.Farmers prepare fields to cultivate crops, Bihu dances and songs are sung, women make pitha (sweets), larus (traditional food made of rice and coconut) Traditionally Bihu has been celebrated with Bihu dance and Bihu Geets in the village fields and courtyards, with groups of youths going from house to house, singing Bihu songs which is known as Husori
Pongal is a popular harvest festival in South Indian states of Tamilnadu and Andhrapradesh. The celebration lasts for three days. Families clean their houses and throw away old clothes. The fronts of houses are adorned with rangoli (kolam). On the day of Pongal, sweet rice known as 'Pongal' is cooked in a new earthenware pot it is made from rice, jaggery , moong daal and milk.