Whirl of colours and culture to celebrate Colombia

Fast dancing, flashes of brilliant colour and plenty of food.

This was how Colombian Independence Day was celebrated in Invercargill on Saturday.

Colombian Fusion was a collaboration between the Southland Multicultural Trust and Mar Colombia, and involved an explanation of the importance of the day as well as a showcase of Colombian culture.

Held at Southern Institute of Technology’s Hansen Hall, the room was crowded with laughing and smiling guests and dancers, with several opportunities for the audience to get up and celebrate, too.

This year there would also be the very first campus ceremony.

Officially the celebrations happen on July 20, and SIT staff member Adriana Rincon, who was originally from Colombia, said there was a great deal of excitement building for the day.

It will be observed with a flag-raising ceremony, the playing of the Colombian national anthem, Oh Gloria Inmarcesible! (Oh Unfading Glory!), followed by a morning tea with traditional Colombian food.

She said numbers of Colombian students attending SIT had reached the threshold of being able to acknowledge them as a community, and more than a dozen Colombians were now enrolled in mainstream programmes.

It meant a lot to the students to have SIT observe their national day with a flag-raising ceremony, she said.

"It’s really important when we see our flag raised at SIT, it’s even more important when you live overseas, away from your home country."

laura.smith@odt.co.nz