2015 Gaura Purnima FOLK News Online

2015 is fast approaching and Gaura Purnima season FOLK news should be delivered to your mailboxes this week. You can read the online edition right here or download a PDF version.



We apologise if you find you have missed out receiving on your printed magazine. While packing FOLK for our mailout we found we were 100 magazines short. We are doing our best to ensure this does not happen again.

You can catch up on past issues at our FOLK homepage.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Temple in the New Year.

Middle Park Primary School

Report by: Navadwipa Isvari Dasi

"We were all very excited to be back at Middle Park Primary School to present our Vedic India program to the 4 groups of preps.

This time Middle Park Primary prep teacher wanted us to do workshops on Music and Dance as well as Traditional Wear.

The prep students were full of energy and participated   enthusiastically in all aspects of the workshops. They enthusiastically attempted to answer any questions put before them during our interactive PowerPoint presentations and also attempted to complete all the activities put before them.

Principal Mr Tim Newton thanked us for our wonderful contributions towards their prep incursion day. Everyone had a great time and our Festival of Vedic India team are really looking forward to going back again next year."

For full view of the photos please click on the thumbnail.

Multicultural Day at Albert Park College

Report by: Navadwipa Isvari Devi Dasi

"We were invited again for the 3rd year in a row to participate in the grand celebration of Multicultural Day at Albert Park College on 5th December 2014. What a grand celebration and festival it was!

We were all welcomed with a big smile and a traditional welcome “Namaste” with folded hands at the front of the school by the coordinator of Multicultural Day, Mr Wallace Smith. He guided us to the classrooms to prepare for the various workshops.

Once again, we had a very enthusiastic group of presenters who coordinated workshops such as Yoga & Meditation, Indian Cooking, Music & Dance, Traditional wear and Henna Art. All the workshops were very well received with great participation by the high school students.

We had set up a very appetising spread of vegetarian cuisine for lunch in the court yard consisting of  fried rice, kofta balls with chutney and various desserts. The lunchtime activities also included Indian face painting and henna art. Some students even lined up prior to the lunch break as they swiftly formed a large queue at the various activities. The school courtyard was transformed into a festive atmosphere with traditional vedic singing, dancing, and feasting. It was a very enjoyable and memorable experience for all.

The feedback we received from Mr Wallace Smith was very inspiring to our team and it was pleasing to hear that the students really embraced the day."

For a full view of the photos, please click on the thumbnails.

Middle Park primary School

Report by: Navadwipa Isvari dasi

"Middle Park primary school had invited us previously to participate in their grade 4 incursion day and their annual carnival, but today we were here to participate in their grade 1/2 incursion day which had the theme of culture & celebration. We always offer schools the opportunity to choose what parts of our program interests them and is in line with theme being taught in class. This time around Middle Park primary thought that Music & dance and traditional wear fitted best with their days activities.

During the traditional wear workshop our presenter Rati spoke about and showed a power point on the different types of  Vedic Indian clothing, types of food served during different celebrations (mainly focusing on sweets), how during some celebrations fireworks are used. She discussed different coloured powders used for ‘The festival of colours’ (traditionally known as Holi) and showed flowers and flower garlands used during festival times. Rati then asked the students how they celebrate festivals and had a discussion about this. Rati and her assistants showed the children all the different types of clothing and jewellery, before inviting the teachers to be the first ones to get dressed up. The students were so excited to see their teachers participating that it made them even more enthusiastic to get dressed up themselves. After everyone was dressed we added an extra layer of decoration by painting flowers and gopi dots on everyone’s face and adding bindi (jewel like) stickers.

In the Music & Dance workshop our presenter Yamuna Sundari spoke about the types of Indian musical instruments such as kartals, mrdanga, and harmonium and how they relate to some of the western musical instruments. The students were then shown a short video clip on some traditional instruments and how they are used during a festival or celebration. Finally the children were taught how to play the instruments and were taught different mantras that can be sung while playing these instruments. All the students, teachers and presenters sung and danced together while playing these traditional instruments. 

Everyone had a great time and our Festival of Vedic India team are really looking forward to going back again in a couple of weeks."

Bestchance Child Family Kinder

Report by: Navadwipa Isvari devi dasi

"We were invited to present our program at Bestchance child family kinder, to the 4 year old Kinder groups and share our vedic culture. The staff organised a whole day’s incursion for the children to learn about our tradition and culture. As the children walked in to the workstations which were well presented, they seemed curious and were interested to learn what it was about, discussing among themselves.

We had modified the program to suit our young participants. The program started off with the introduction of our speakers and then moved on to the presentation of our colourful display of clothing around the room. The children were very interactive when asked about the various types of traditional clothing. We showed the children the length of the sari and they looked amazed. We invited one of their teachers to be dressed in one and the children clapped when their teacher was dressed in the sari with Indian jewellery. They eagerly went to get dressed when it was their turn and busily chose their outfit. They then patiently went and had some special face painting and were excited to see themselves in the mirror.

Story time was next and the children listened attentively. When it came to music and dance session they seemed very excited to try out the instruments that we had brought along to present. They were swift in picking up the kartals and follow the instructions that they had been taught, and tried some intricate beats on the drum mrdanga. They all learnt The Maha mantra we had taught them and they enjoyed singing it independently. During dancing everyone had a great time, as once everyone knew the steps they started to sing and dance. The children looked beautiful wearing the traditional Indian clothing whilst singing and dancing.

After this, they had some prasadam- cupcakes we had brought for them, which was enjoyed by all. Henna art was next as children patiently waited for their turn and watched as the artists created a special design on their hand. Children protected their hands until the henna had dried.

Some children enthusiastically showed their henna to their parents as they came to pick them up and brought their parents to meet us. The educator Christine said that, “this has been the best incursion (they) have ever had.”

Fitzroy North Community School

Report by: Navadwipa Isvari devi dasi

"We were warmly welcomed at the door by bright smiling children and their teacher. They were all so eager to help us bring in our things that we had brought for the program. They offered us water and presented us with a tour around their colossal school building. The students had been eagerly waiting for us to come and present our 'Vedic Indian culture' as per the teacher’s description.

We had mixed age groups of students attending the program, some between 5 to 8, and others were 11-12 year olds in the groups. They had requested for us to present garland making, Henna art, and music/dance. We had 3 sessions of each workshop which we ran simultaneously. There was great cooperation among the students and staff as we clearly noticed across all the groups of children we met.

The children were very keen to try everything we had to offer. Henna art seemed to be an exciting concept and a few even said that they had seen this art done in markets and were excited that they were going to learn how to do this art form. After a short presentation, they all traced an outline of their hands and drew the design that they were going to have on paper, before attempting to use the henna cones. The outcome was amazing. Many required some guidance to use the henna cones to draw the designs on their hands, while others worked in pairs and drew on each other.

Their eyes lit up as they walked into the room and saw the assorted colours of carnations we had laid out on the table for them. They watched the presentation on garland making and interacted well in answering questions that were put before them. Ready-made Maha garlands of assorted flowers, colours and fragrance were used as demos. They then went through the bags of assorted flowers and worked out the colour combination of how their garland was going to look before starting to make their garland. They all worked well to create a garland for someone special. The only thing that they found a little tricky was rethreading the needle as it occasionally came off the thread. All the garlands that the children made looked very beautiful!!!

Music and dance was very enthusiastically received by the students. They were willing to try all the various instruments we had brought harmonium, kartals, and mrdanga. They then learnt the Maha Mantra we had taught them in an efficient manner which was quite evident when they were put to the test by the quiz. The teachers, students, parents and siblings gracefully copied and danced the steps that was shown to them. We could see how well coordinated they were in remembering the steps and singing at the same time. They could have kept singing and dancing if time was not a factor.

All the students gathered in the hall with their teachers. Some students and a teacher on behalf of the school thanked us, and everyone applauded. We thanked them for having us and presented the teachers with maha garlands and maha sweets, and distributed cupcakes to the students.

We were seen out by some students whom on their own had offered to help us. Great cooperation and a sense of willingness to help us seemed to come so naturally to these children. We were honoured to be in their presence."