On the 18th July 2018, Marymount Kindergarten witnessed a pool of children dressed in their ethnic costumes, comprising of a mixture of Cheongsams, Saris, Baju Kurongs, Dhoti Kurtas and the Kebayas. In addition to that, we had children who also donned themselves in Kimonos or even Hanboks!

What a beautiful sight, as the Kindergarten celebrated Multi-Cultural Day in advance this year to remind both teachers and children of the importance to preserve racial and religious harmony especially in a multi-ethnic country like Singapore.

The day began with children streaming into the school, clad in their individual ethnic costumes and a wide smile. If you linger close enough to some children, you could hear their excitement as they went on to discuss about their “uniform” for the day.

The children gathered in the hall to learn more about “Multi-Cultural Day”, a presentation by our own teachers. Children were introduced to the different races in Singapore, mainly comprising of the Chinese, Muslim, Indian and Eurasian.

In addition, they were introduced to the unique cultural festivals celebrated by each ethnic group. For example, Chinese celebrated Chinese New Year, Indians celebrated Deepavali, Malays celebrated Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and the Eurasians celebrated Christmas.

In addition to this, the teachers explained to children some of the ethnic common practices during the festivals and also the different types of food enjoyed by the ethnic groups, their languages, places of worship and the traditional games played and enjoyed in the past such as Five Stones, Bola Tins, Capteh and Flag Eraser.

The presentation ended on a high note as children gathered to sing the Multi-Cultural song. Following, both teachers and children’s stomach began to rumble as they made their way back to their classrooms for a feast and appreciation of each unique culture’s ethnic food.

Through this celebration, Marymount Kindergarten hopes to inculcate in our  children a sense of belonging to Singapore, where they are proud to live in a country with all the different ethnic groups coming together as one big family.

Both teachers and children should be aware of the importance of living as one big body in harmony, to accept and respect that each and everyone is unique in their own way and to celebrate the very importance of diversity in a small country like Singapore!

Written by Mrs Christina Ng

Pre- Nursery HOD.

 

RH