PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Celebrate the ethnic heritage of India at Penn's Landing on Saturday, August 20, 2005. This FREE event will continue from Noon until 7 p.m. with a day full of food, music, dancing and crafts. The Festival of India will be held at the Great Plaza on Penn's Landing, on Columbus Boulevard at Chestnut Street. With a theme of "Unity in Diversity," this event, which attracts close to 10,000 people each year, is supported by the more than 25 active Indian organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region. This event, one of the ten cultural festivals that make up the PECO Energy Multicultural Series is also made possible by Independence Blue Cross, the presenting sponsor of the 2005 Summer season at Penn's Landing.
The festival will kick off this year with a Bangda parade known for its traditional dancing with drums from the North of India. The performers and attendees wear traditional Indian dress. Dancers from over 35 Indian states will perform cultural dances celebrating their heritage. Bhangra dancing is a popular dance at parties, weddings and social functions. Nowadays Bhangra dancing is also used to keep fit. Bhangra is also folk music in the context of rural, agricultural Punjab, where songs are performed and danced to by men to the accompaniment of the dholak and/or dholki drums. One of the distinguishing features of Bhangra is the type of drums used. Dholak (or dhol) and dholki are related double-headed drums. The largest is dholak, a wooden barrel drum with a shoulder strap. The left head is played with a hook-shaped stick and produces a deep resonance, while the right head is hit either with two small sticks or one stick
Vendors will be on hand selling traditional Indian arts and crafts including clothes, jewelry, music, and other cultural items. Traditional Mahandi work (artistic design) will be available to be done on both hands and feet. Mahandi or hands painting is an old Indian custom still have been practiced by most of the Indian women. Once painted, the Mahandi, lasts typically for two weeks. The paint is a henna paste that is squeezed onto the skin and leaves dark blue scrolls on the skin until the design is set. Then it is flaked away and leaves a stained pattern of red tints on the skin.
The Festival will also feature a culture booth, which will conduct brief sessions on such topics as yoga, Indian Art, Indian Cooking, musical instruments, and Indian culture in general. One of the presentations will be on "How to tie or wrap a Saree." A Saree (or sari) is the traditional dress of Indian and Pakistani women, consisting of a long length of cloth. One end is wrapped around the waist, forming a skirt, and the other is draped over the shoulders and head. Event attendees can learn about a clothing habit that comes naturally to every Indian female as she ties a saree, on a daily basis all over India.
A variety of food will be offered from both North and South India for visitors to enjoy. The authentic Indian fare will include tikka masala (mild curry dish with a tomato-based sauce), chicken kabob, veggie korma (vegetarian curried stew), and chapatti (an unleavened pancake-like bread).
This free event, presented by PECO Energy and the Council of Indian Organizations in Greater Philadelphia works to publicize the importance of the Indian culture and community to the Philadelphia region. Council of Indian Organizations in Greater Philadelphia (CIO) was established in 1983 as an umbrella organization and has grown to represent more than 25 active Indian organizations in the Greater Philadelphia area. The organization's objectives are to provide a common platform from which to pursue common goals, to promote and coordinate community activities, to provide civic and political education to people of Indian origin, and to act as a representative for the Asian Indian community.
Supporting the region's diversity has been a longstanding goal for PECO, who has sponsored the multicultural festivals at Penn's Landing for the past ten years. "All of us at PECO are thrilled to return again to the waterfront to support the multicultural festivals," said PECO president Denis O'Brien. "Penn's Landing is a Philadelphia summertime tradition and the PECO Energy Multicultural Series is a fun way for us to celebrate the wide range of diversity represented in our service territory."
PECO Energy is proud to be Philadelphia's hometown energy company and one of the region's most prominent civic supporters. PECO is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and celebrating diversity inside and outside the Company.
Based in Philadelphia, PECO Energy is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC). PECO serves 1.5 million electric and 460,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2004, the company delivered 37.5 million megawatt hours (mWh) of electricity and 87.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to residential, business and institutional customers. PECO's energy delivery services generated $4.49 billion in revenue for Exelon. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations.
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary season, Independence Blue Cross is the presenting sponsor of the 2005 Summer Season at Penn's Landing. Penn's Landing is Philadelphia's Waterfront district, running along Columbus Boulevard from Washington Avenue to Spring Garden Street. The main sites for the more than 50 festivals, concerts, and events at Penn's Landing is the Great Plaza, located along the Delaware River on Columbus Boulevard at Chestnut Street. For more information on event locations and event details, please call (215) 922-2FUN or visit www.pennslandingcorp.com. The Penn's Landing website is a virtual resource for the waterfront which can help plan a visit to easily park, play and stay all day at Penn's Landing.