Edmonton Heritage Festival 2016 - A Glimpse of Nepalese Cultural Performances

The Edmonton Heritage Festival is one of the largest multicultural festivals in the world. The three-day long heritage festival honors Alberta’s vibrant cultural heritage and diversity. The 41st Edmonton Heritage Festival was held at Hawrelak Park from July 30 to August 1, 2016. This year, about 300,000 people from various ethnic backgrounds attended the heritage festival.
At the heritage festival, there were about 65 pavilions representing more than 85 countries (including Nepal) which served more than 500 unique and culturally authentic food items from across the world.
In the Nepalese pavilion, Lakhey mask dance, Dhimay dance along with other ethnic cultural dances were performed for the public entertainment free of cost. All the three Newa ethnic dances including the Lakhey mask dance and Dhimay dance were performed by local artists of Newa Cultural Society of Alberta (NCSA). Meanwhile, NCSA is a non-profit organization incorporated in April 22, 2013 under Societies Acts of Alberta to practice, promote and preserve Newa culture and tradition in Alberta, Canada. Since last two years, NCSA has been practicing and promoting Newa language, music and dance classes in the community under cultural heritage project with the support from the City of Edmonton. Dr. Hemanta Joshi is the founding president of NCSA.