Cultural performances delighted the crowd at Saturday's Diwali festival.
Cultural performances delighted the crowd at Saturday's Diwali festival.
Diwali celebrations in Whanganui on Saturday attracted a crowd of about 400 people from different cultures.
Vijeshwar Prasad, of the Rangitikei/Whanganui Multicultural Council, said although the annual festival of lights is an Indian tradition, this year's event at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre had more of a multicultural feel.
"Diwaliis a celebration for Indians but it's great that in Whanganui people from other cultures are getting together and mingling," Mr Prasad said.
"There was a real multicultural crowd and we had Samoans, Cook Islanders and South Indians performing. Punjabi women are very shy and hardly come out of their houses but the Punjabi women in Whanganui have formed a group and they performed at Diwali and even got the Mayor [Hamish McDouall] on stage to do a Bollywood dance.
"Everyone really enjoyed it and the food was great. People look forward to Diwali in Whanganui."
