Home News 10

Home News

Recognize, Respect and Rejoice - Celebrating the spiritual festivals

(December 7, 2010)

Niagara region marked the spiritual festivals of the season with the annual Recognize, Respect, and Rejoice celebration attracting people of different religious beliefs. The celebration was to mark the Diwali, Eid Al Adha, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

The Diwali is the Festival of Lights to Hindus around the world. It is a festival that signifies the victory of divine forces over tyranny and evil.

The Eid Al-Fitri is also known as Festival of Fast-Breaking in Islam. It is the day that marks the end of the Ramadan, a month in which Muslims all over the world fast from dawn to dusk.

The Hanukkah commemorates the victorious recapture of the Temple in Jerusalem from the Syrians in 164 B.C. Jewish families symbolically re-light the Holy Lamp (menorah) in December symbolizing the rededication of the Temple to God.

The Christian religion celebrates Christmas on December 25 in many parts of the world. It marks the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Kwanzaa is a celebration started as a Pan-African festival primarily honoring African Heritage in North America. North American families celebrating Kwanzaa decorate their households with objects of art, colourful African cloth and fresh fruits.

Recognize, Respect and Rejoice celebration was organized by the City of St. Catharines Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations.

The celebration could be traced to an event, which happened over 15 years ago in St. Catharines when the first Muslim meat shop was protested for locating in the area.

The chairman of the committee Sallah Hamdani said the committee had been able to touch hearts since it began hosting the event. Chair Community Race Relations “This is the only night which you would have groups of Jews, sitting with groups of Muslims, sitting with groups of Christians, sitting with groups of people who follow Kwanzaa, sitting with groups of Hindus and everyone would leave happy.”

Brian McMullan, the Mayor of the City of St. Catharines expressed gratitude of the city to members of the Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations for their hard work and dedication in organizing the event.

The performances of the evening gave the audience opportunity to sing and clap along to some familiar festive songs. The Niagara Hindu Samaj presented the Zoobi Doob Dance and the Desi Dream Dance, which incorporated different aspects of contemporary Indian music. The seniors of the Hindu Samaj sang “Recognize and Respect” to tabla drums played by renowned music teacher Dr. Hussain Khan.

Susannah Taylor thrilled the audience to Christmas carols. Susannah is the Director of Music at St Denis Church in St. Catharines where she conducts a children’s choir and an adult choir.

Cantor Eyal Bitton, a composer and lyricist and currently the Cantor of Beth Jacob Synagogue in Hamilton entertained the audience with songs dedicated to Hanukkah and Israeli peace medley. His singing was backed up with acoustic guitar breaking into fast tempo that made the audience to clap along.

Suhaib Abbasi, originally from Pakistan sang in honour of his creator. His performance was mixed with story telling on Islam and songs in his native language.

The evening was rounded off with the energetic drums and songs of the Black Kukrudu. It performed 'Jemi sane' and 'Amanda don't give up' to the delight of the audience.

Mosaic Edition spoke with Dr. Ivan Samson of Congregation B’nai Israel on the celebration of Hanukkah. He explained the use of the candles, the use of Jewish alphabets and even shared the Hanukkah bread with Mosaic Edition. Dr. Samson said he got involved in the celebration after the organizers approached him. The Congregation B'nai Israel was represented in past celebrations by Dr. Samson's Jewish band.