Harmony exists when everyone agrees on the same thing and feels the same way about cultural, social and personal issues. However, in a multicultural world, or even within a single community, not everyone feels the same or sees things the same way. This leads to disharmony on the micro level, and violent conflict on the macro level. So what can we do to change that? Harmony starts in the hearts and minds of the individual. It starts with the knowledge that it’s ok to have different opinions and these differences don’t have to lead to conflict. A great way to help children understand harmony is by celebrating Harmony Day that falls on 21st March throughout Australia. The most important idea behind celebrating Harmony day is to promote a sense of belonging, respect, fairness, cultural and racial acceptance and understanding.
Here’s how Australia celebrates Harmony Day:
The Message: The key message of Harmony Day is that Everyone Belongs. It’s a unique day to share the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood regardless of where you’re from or who you are.
The Theme: This year, the Australian theme for Harmony Day is Sports — play, engage, inspire. The aim is to encourage everyone, regardless of background, to participate in a sporting activity, in the belief that this will lead to an increased understanding between people. Sport is a great way to get people together because it invites all people to participate in some way or the other, and brings people from multiple cultures together regardless of race, religion, language or region.
The Colour: This is the day to break out orange! The colour has often been associated with healing in older civilizations so it’s no surprise that it was chosen to signify Harmony Day.
Harmony Day events: Since Harmony Day was embraced over 10 years ago, schools and institutions across the nation host a variety of events to celebrate this day of belonging. For instance, arranging a multi-cultural meal within the community.
The Diverse Australia Program: This community-based initiative by the Australian government aims to address issues of cultural, racial and religious intolerance by promoting respect, fairness, inclusion and a sense of belonging for everyone.
If you’re looking forward to celebrating Harmony Day with your children at home, here are a few tips:
-Paint it orange: Set up one room as the Harmony Room. Hang colourful orange streamers and drape orange coloured curtains. You can even bake orange coloured cakes and make orange coloured lemonade! Involve the kids so that everyone can feel like they contributed.
-Visit the Harmony Day website www.harmony.gov.au for a myriad of different ideas, print outs and support material.
-Tell some stories: Once you have set up your Harmony Room, invite your kids to a storytelling session featuring a story from another unique culture. You can carry this theme further by listening to cultural music and learning a cultural dance.
-Make a paper heart chain: Make a paper doll or heart chain and join your kids in colouring it. Use blackline masters of children from around the world for children to colour.
-Make a Harmony Day journal: Invest in budget friendly notebooks that you can give your children to use as a journal. Start their writing journey by asking them to complete sentences like: ‘I feel like I belong when…’; ‘The culture I like the most is…’
-Invent something new: Invent a new culture. Ask your children to imagine how this culture would be, what kind of dance would they have, what kind of food would they eat?
-Get sporty: Spend time playing cricket or any other sport with the children from your neighborhood. Organise friendly matches.
Since its inception in 1999, Harmony Day has grown in popularity. Australians have made this day their own and celebrate it united with each other. This day is vital to instilling the meaning of multi-cultural tolerance in the nation’s people. This tolerance is what makes people strong. So, Happy Harmony Day mate from the team at Global Kids Oz!
MomsGoneGlobal.com would like to thank our guest blogger JJ Stranan for sharing information about this wonderful celebration. JJ is a devoted champion of global education, and the Director of Global Kids Oz which is Australia’s largest supplier of multicultural education resources.
Global Kids Oz has a wonderful mission statement: To bring the beauty and essence of living in a global world with diverse cultures to all teachers and students within Australia, by supplying Teachers and Parents with quality, useful and fun multicultural products that teach children and adults about Global Cultures.
Please give a warm welcome to JJ and check out her outstanding website and awesome blog, SimplyMulticultural.com.
