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A Taste of Bali in Brussels
Saturday, 12 May 2012 10:51
Ging Ginanjar
Download On May 6, Belgium hosted the largest Balinese festival held outside of Indonesia.
The Ogoh-Ogoh festival features giant Balinese puppets and traditionally marks Nyepi, or Balinese New Year – a day marked by silence on the island of the gods.
The event was held in Pairi Daizi Park, a former monastery turned international cultural park.
Ging Ginanjar joined Balinese from all over Europe at the unique festivities.
Download The Baisakhi Festival is a three-day celebration for the Sikh community around the world – it marks the religion’s founding, the Sikh New Year, and the harvest season.
Sikhism began over 500 years ago in Punjab – regarded as the Sikh homeland in South Asia.
But Punjab is now divided between India and Pakistan, and the holy shrine of Gurdawa Panja Sahib is on the Pakistani side.
Each year thousands of devotees come to Pakistan to visit the shrine for the festival.
Pakistani authorities deploy more than 1,000 security personnel to make sure Sikhs can celebrate in peace.
Mudassar Shah joins the crowds in Northern Punjab.
Influential Burmese monk refuses to be silenced: Burma has recently been thrust into the international spotlight. Following the landslide victory of the National League for Democracy in the April by-election and Aung San Suu Kyi finally taking a seat in parliament – Burma is being hailed as Asia’s newest democracy. But the government continues to limit the public, and sometimes political, activities of Burma’s Buddhist monks. Prominent monk Ashin Pyinnyar Thiha is banned from giving any speeches and was recently evicted from his monastery in Rangoon. Citra Dyah Prastuti travels to Hmaw-Bi Township on the outskirts of Rangoon to meet him.
Single Mothers Fight Prejudice in South Korea: In many parts of the world, May is the month for mothers. But in South Korea, there’s also a special day for single mothers, unwed women who raise their children solo. Being a single mom is tough – but in South Korea it brings shame upon the entire family. Many children born out of wedlock are kept secret and adopted overseas. But the adoptees are now returning home to find their birth mothers and are working to curb the prejudice single mothers still face. Jason Strother has the story from Seoul.
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