Tamil Christians celebrated Christmas today in the homeland, with church services and private celebrations.
British Tamil students held the 'Breaking The Silence' series last month, raising awareness on the stuggles of maintaining Tamil culture and traditions amid ethnic and cultural oppression by the Sri Lankan state. Across Maaveerar Week (Great Heroe's Week) in November, the Tamil Students Initiative (TSI) held a series of events at universities across London, which included an art exhibition on displacement, talks on the ongoing military oppression in the North-East and discussions on identity within the diaspora, as well as a book club.
Politics, culture, religion and caste were the topics of discussion at an event held at SOAS University of London last month, as British Tamils gathered to discuss Tamil identity in the diaspora. As part of the discussion - entitled ‘Diasporic identity: Who are we?’ – panellists discussed a variety of topics related to how the British Tamil community and identity has been formed and grown. Vithujan Arumugam highlighted the intransigent nature of the caste system and iterated the normality of casteism, especially when it comes to relations and marriage – a topic that many in the community felt...
The Tamil festival of lights known as Karthikai Deepam or Karthikai Vilakkeedu was celebrated by Eelam Tamils on Friday. The festival falls each year on the full moon night of the Tamil month of karthikai (November). Origin stories behind the festival vary regionally, although one reason is to celebrate the birth of the Tamil god Murugan.
The annual Black Tigers memorial tournament was held in Grindsted, Denmark in August, marking 25 years since the tournament started. Tamil football teams from across Europe compete in the tournament to commemorate Karumpuli Naal , the day of remembrance for fallen cadres of the LTTE's elite Black Tiger wing.
Jaffna's iconic Nallur Kandasamy Kovil saw thousands attend its annual chariot festival, ther thiruvizha, on Saturday.
MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A., the critically acclaimed documentary based on 22 years of archival footage from the career and personal life of international star M.I.A. will be screened at the British Film Institute next month.
The annual festival, Thiruvizha, of the iconic Nallur Kandasamy Kovil in Jaffna commenced on Thursday with the ceremony for hoisting of the deity's flag. The 25 day long festival annually sees thousands of Saivite devotees and tourists from across the island as well as the Tamil diaspora flock to Jaffna, with the main event, the chariot festival or ther thiruvizha, scheduled for September 8.
The festival of Aadivel was celebrated in Paala Kathirkaamam in Jaffna on Wednesday with street parades, fire dancers and decorated floats. The parade, which began at the weekend, travelled around Jaffna town, finishing at the temple on August 1.
Vanni Avenue, a street name dedicated to Markham’s Tamil community was declared open by the city’s mayor on Saturday. The name was chosen to remember the historic Tamil king Pandara Vannian and the traditional Vanni region of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil cultural and historical heartland, as well as to strengthen the friendship agreement between Markham and Mullaitivu, which traditionally falls under the region.