UK Celebrates Durga Puja Parade on River Thames, Diwali at Trafalgar Square in London

London, Oct 10: A first-of-its-kind Durga Puja parade on the river Thames and the Mayor of London's annual Diwali on the Square at Trafalgar Square marked a heavily packed Indian festive weekend across London.

The Heritage Bengal Global (HBG), a not-for-profit organisation made up of the Bengali diaspora, organised the Durga Puja parade to coincide with events in Kolkata as part of its initiative to create a worldwide forum to bring together puja festivities covering across every continent. Russia-Ukraine War: India Urges Its Citizens To Avoid All Non-Essential Travel to and Within Country After Russian Missile Attack.

Over 200 people participated in the river parade sailing past London landmarks such as the Big Ben and London Eye on Saturday. India's Deputy High Commissioner to the UK, Sujit Ghosh, along with representatives of the UK's Royal Army and Royal Air Force were among the special guests at the event.

“The boats were decorated with traditional chhou masks and various puja artefacts from Kumartuli, which transformed the boats into mini tableaus of Bengal,” HBG said in a statement.

The parade involved two yachts carrying Goddess Durga idols from the puja celebrations at Camden in north London as well as cutouts of Midlands Bengali Association in Birmingham and Bengali Sanskrit Club in Peterborough. Indian cutouts from Bhowanipur 75 Palli and Bagbazar Sarbojanin pujas of Kolkata and a landmark pandal representation from the Sreebhumi Sporting Club made up the grand parade, complete with traditional music and dance.

As a follow up, the group headed to the annual Diwali celebrations at Trafalgar Square on Sunday for a colourful performance involving an Adivasi cultural programme in honour of India's first President from the tribal community, Droupadi Murmu. Diwali 2022 Muhurat Trading: Check Date, Time For Auspicious Muhurat at Stock Market And Dos, Don'ts For Trading.

“This year the back-to-back events of Durga Parade on Thames and Diwali at Trafalgar Square helped immensely in our endeavour to promote Durga Puja and the traditional cultural heritage of Bengal, which should likely to put Kolkata on the global tourism map,” said HBG Director Anirban Mukhopadhyay.

“We wanted to convert the UNESCO intangible tag of Durga Puja to something more tangible to realise its full potential,” he said.

Durga Puja was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) last year.

The Diwali on the Square event also included cultural performances from other parts of India, including Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The day-long festivities included yoga and meditation, singalong bhajans and live performances. Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, hailed the “terrific Diwali festive spirit” at the event organised annually by the Mayor of London's office.

“The Mayor of London's free annual family event is delivered in partnership with the Diwali in London committee and opened with 200 colourfully dressed dancers in the main square followed by an exciting mix of performances from the Hindu, Sikh and Jain community on the stage,” Mayor Sadiq Khan's office said. A Diwali Festival Experience by London's Neasden Temple, dance workshops, sari and turban tying and henna painting events concluded with a special light- up moment at the famous square in celebration of the festival of lights on October 24.

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