November 19, 2025
Diwali celebrations have become a local affair for Mid Canterbury.
Several major celebrations of the Hindu new year have been held in Ashburton, and both saw a high turnout.
Assistant treasurer for the Ashburton Fiji Indian Religious Society, Ravind Kumar, said the turnout for their event exceeded expectations.
“Around 400-450 people came up; it was a great turnout.”
The celebration was held at the Tinwald Memorial Hall and features all the best parts of Diwali: Indian sweets and food, dances, dramas and lots of colourful clothing.
“There was a Fijian meke too, because it correlated with Fiji [independence] day,” Kumar said.
He was happy to see non-Indians make their way to the event.
“Last year we started this. The crowd was around 250.”
“[This year] all races of people turned up, even people from one of the rest homes came.”
A second event, run by the Ashburton Indian Multicultural Charitable Trust and held at the Ashburton Event Centre, saw a similar increase in turnout, with people travelling from the cities to attend.
“[There were] around 200 people” Radio KJ Local host Jibby Isaac said, “more than last year.”
She and fellow radio personality Krish Krishna hosted the event, a sit-down night of entertainment with performers from a number of different cultures.
The pair also host a number of Diwali events in Christchurch.
“Christchurch has always been bigger, like we’re talking about triple, four or five times the [turnout] size of Ashburton,” she said.
“Both have their positives; with Ashburton we can connect with people on a personal level, because it's a small crowd.”
She was encouraged by the diversity of the crowds this year.
The Multicultural trust event was put together by Rosabel and Natasha Pal, and Bikash and Rohini Sukul.
The Ashburton District Council supported the Multicultural Trust’s event through a grant.
“Ashburton District Council administered a Creative Communities grant to the organisers of Diwali earlier this year,” community and open spaces group manager Toni Durham said.
“Council supports events like Diwali to recognise our multicultural community.”
Kumar said Diwali was now a celebration “for everyone” with Indian roots.
“Diwali is a New Year’s celebration for us,” Kumar said. “This marks the start, the beginning of a new year.”
He encourages people to accept any party invites for Diwali as it's celebrated this week, and to join next year’s festivities.
Between 2018 and 2023, Ashburton’s population of Indian and Fiji-Indian residents grew by 120 people.
The Sri Lankan population increased by 51 people, and the Nepali population by 48.
By Anisha Satya
Diwali celebrations have become a local affair for Mid Canterbury.
Several major celebrations of the Hindu new year have been held in Ashburton, and both saw a high turnout.
Assistant treasurer for the Ashburton Fiji Indian Religious Society, Ravind Kumar, said the turnout for their event exceeded expectations.
“Around 400-450 people came up; it was a great turnout.”
The celebration was held at the Tinwald Memorial Hall and features all the best parts of Diwali: Indian sweets and food, dances, dramas and lots of colourful clothing.
“There was a Fijian meke too, because it correlated with Fiji [independence] day,” Kumar said.
He was happy to see non-Indians make their way to the event.
“Last year we started this. The crowd was around 250.”
“[This year] all races of people turned up, even people from one of the rest homes came.”
A second event, run by the Ashburton Indian Multicultural Charitable Trust and held at the Ashburton Event Centre, saw a similar increase in turnout, with people travelling from the cities to attend.
“[There were] around 200 people” Radio KJ Local host Jibby Isaac said, “more than last year.”
She and fellow radio personality Krish Krishna hosted the event, a sit-down night of entertainment with performers from a number of different cultures.
The pair also host a number of Diwali events in Christchurch.
“Christchurch has always been bigger, like we’re talking about triple, four or five times the [turnout] size of Ashburton,” she said.
“Both have their positives; with Ashburton we can connect with people on a personal level, because it's a small crowd.”
She was encouraged by the diversity of the crowds this year.
The Multicultural trust event was put together by Rosabel and Natasha Pal, and Bikash and Rohini Sukul.
The Ashburton District Council supported the Multicultural Trust’s event through a grant.
“Ashburton District Council administered a Creative Communities grant to the organisers of Diwali earlier this year,” community and open spaces group manager Toni Durham said.
“Council supports events like Diwali to recognise our multicultural community.”
Kumar said Diwali was now a celebration “for everyone” with Indian roots.
“Diwali is a New Year’s celebration for us,” Kumar said. “This marks the start, the beginning of a new year.”
He encourages people to accept any party invites for Diwali as it's celebrated this week, and to join next year’s festivities.
Between 2018 and 2023, Ashburton’s population of Indian and Fiji-Indian residents grew by 120 people.
The Sri Lankan population increased by 51 people, and the Nepali population by 48.
By Anisha Satya
