The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Life Reporter
PREPARATIONS for this year’s Culture Week celebrations have been pencilled in for 20 May and will run for one week in all provinces.
This year’s launch will be held in Nyava High School in Musana in Bindura. The official Culture Week launch is a national event co-ordinated by National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and implemented by the hosting province in which this year it is Mashonaland Central.
Some of the activities that will be paraded at the official launch include street marching by artistees and cultural activists, a fashion show, music, dance, art and craft exhibitions and herbal medicine exhibitions.
Thereafter, provincial launches will be held, packed with varied cultural and artisteic expressions by stakeholders and communities. NACZ communications and marketing officer Catherine Mthombeni said this year’s would run under the theme “Consolidating Cultural Identity, Diversity and Heritage”.
She said culture is identity and culture in its diversified format, which fosters co-existence, harmony and peace.
“Zimbabwe as a cultured nation is proud of its national identity. In Zimbabwe, chiefs play a pivotal role in the safeguarding, preservation and promotion of cultural norms and practices that inform the nation’s spirit of ubuntu. With the celebration of Culture Week and its growth over the years, it is time to take stock and build on whatever the country has attained so far on the culture front,” said Mthombeni.
NACZ value Culture Week celebrations, for it enables Zimbabwe to reflect on the diversified culture, while reminding Zimbabweans of the need to safeguard cultural practices.
“Such practices are integral components of the nation’s cultural heritage in both tangible and intangible forms. Culture Week is an opportune time to promote and showcase the diversity of the Zimbabwean culture. NACZ is encouraging communities at whatever level to come together, celebrate and enjoy their respective cultures in unison,” she said.
Mthombeni noted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity by Unesco in 2001 proclaimed 21 May of each year the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
In commemorating this day, countries are encouraged to celebrate the uniqueness of diverse cultures found in them as part of world culture. In addition, the day is intended to provide an opportunity for the flaunting of various cultural heritages that need to be preserved for posterity.
“Cognisant of the phenomenal growth in popularity this World Day has enjoyed hitherto, NACZ decided to make this occasion a weeklong event hence the existence of the Culture Week every year. Therefore NACZ inaugurated Culture Week in 2002 after it discovered that one day was too short a period to leave an impact in people. In addition, artistees found the one day not adequate to allow them to celebrate and display their works to the public,” added Mthombeni.
