This week Australia celebrates Harmony Week, culminating with Harmony Day on Thursday 21st March.
What is Harmony Week?
Harmony Week celebrates the multicultural beauty that is Australia. This week leads to the celebration of Harmony Day, which has been celebrated annually on March 21st since 1999. Australia promotes Harmony Day in conjunction with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is a week to celebrate the diversity of Australian culture. We all come from different places and this week reminds us what a wonderful thing that actually is. The continuing message of Harmony Day is ‘Everyone Belongs’. It is about community participation, inclusiveness, celebrating diversity, respect and belonging.
How to Celebrate Harmony Day
First things first, wear ORANGE! The day is celebrated by wearing orange, so this harmony day, be sure to put on your best and brightest orange coloured clothing! There are so many ways that you can celebrate Harmony Day, through sporting events, dance, art, movies, cooking, sharing traditional meals with other cultures, storytelling, or discussion. This will expose your children to different cultures and backgrounds of their friends, and give them an understanding of how we all equally belong in this nation, as well as how to make it a better place for all. There are plenty of online resources available to help celebrate this day, we will look at some of the activities below.
Harmony Day Activities for your Child
- Paper People Art Chain
- Mixed Language Speech Bubbles
- Harmony Day Bookmark
- Colouring In Page
- You could also cook a dish for dinner that represents a different culture and have your child involved in the cooking process
We hope you have a wonderful Harmony Day today!
At Angel’s Paradise, we believe in promoting harmony and cultural diversity all year ’round.