After eight years in New Zealand, Sandy's ESOL student, a refugee from Jaffna in Sri Lanka, and her three oldest children became 'Kiwi' citizens at a City function last night. It was a fascinating event that made me think about relevance and multiculturalism.
Here were about 400 people and their guests: people who obviously came from a multitude of cultural backgrounds. Many wore their first nation dress which revealed their religious and national heritage. There were middle aged parents in sari's and sarongs with teenagers in jeans, hoodies and jelled up hair styles.
The majority were middle aged and younger and English was obviously not their heart language. But we walked into the theatre to the sound of a pipe organ playing music written centuries ago in Russia or Austria, the dignitaries processed in with robes and chains of office, the opening greeting, done in English, with the obligatory and somewhat insincere Maori greeting, was delivered at break-neck speed that was difficult for an Aussie to follow, and the last item of entertainment was a young lady playing a violin solo, (again a piece written for a foreign culture, centuries ago).
I wonder, if at this celebration of acceptance and citizenship there was any effort to connect with the people, any effort to engender an atmosphere of joy and celebration - or if it really was, as it appeared to me, all about upholding tradition, order and procedure at the expense of valuing humanity, individuality and culture.
It made me remember that I've been to churches like that! They look great, they sound professional, the leaders look impressive and convey confidence - but please, don't be an individual, don't expect to be 'spoken' to in a language you understand and remember, we maintain the dignity and order of the occasion at all costs.
My second observation, a Multicultural Veneer is to come...
