World Environment Day celebration with Tree plantation, Diaspora cultural event, promotional Hindi event and Yoga & Ayurveda events organised during Amrit Mahotsav Celebrations by EoI , Lisbon (June , 2021)
1.Tree plantation organized in association with the local Sikh Community, the Parish and Mayor of the Municipality of Odivelas at Rio da Costa Urban Park, Odivelas, coinciding with the World Environment Day 2. ‘Dhrupad’ vocal performance by Portuguese musician Ricardo Passos organized in collaboration with the Narthaki Performing Arts School and Hindu Community of Portugal. 3. The Mission supported and participated in a virtual South Asian Culture Festival organized in association with Embassy of Bangladesh, local diaspora organizations and other partners. The event included Talks on Hindi, Buddhism, Yoga, Ayurveda and workshops on Indian cuisine, Indian music and dance performances. 4. Ambassador participated as a keynote speaker via a video message in a virtual event ‘Portugal Meditates’, organized by the Art of Living. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar led a live meditation from Bangaluru where more than 40 countries in Europe simultaneously participated in their respective countries bringing together a total of 1 million people meditating together at the same time, across the continent. 5. Book donation to the oldest public library of São Lázaro in Lisbon as part of cultural exchange and community welfare. The Parish where the library is located comprises multi-ethnic communities including from India. Books donated included Portuguese-Hindi dictionaries, books on yoga and Ayurveda in Portuguese, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi in Portuguese and also Gandhi comics for children. Most of the publications were done by the Embassy with local collaboration. 6. A musical concert ‘SAMADHI’, dedicated to Yoga and Meditation by Portuguese artistes Rão Kyao (Flute) and Ruca Rebordão (Tabla) organized in association with ICCR, Portuguese Yoga Federation and European Union of Yoga held in the Municipality of Santarem. 7. IDY celebration at the India House. Around 50 persons participated in the event held physically while a large number of participants joined it through Embassy's Facebook. As part of the celebrations, a guided yoga session based on the Common Yoga Protocol was performed by the participants. 8. Hatha Yoga, Meditation and Pranayama Zoom sessions with Lectures on Ayurveda, vegetarian food and an Om Chanting Session in collaboration with Portuguese Yoga Federation. 9. Online Lecture by Prof. Shiv Kumar Singh, Head, Center for Indian Studies, Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon (FLUL) on “Indian Mythologies”, introducing Ramayana and Mahabharata and their relevance in today’s society. 10. Online Program with Yoga & Meditation sessions in the morning and talks on Yoga by experts in the evening organized in association with the The Portuguese Ayurvedic Medicine Association (AMAYUR), together with the European Association of Oriental Therapies (AETO) and Centro de Estudos Indianos (CEI), FLUL, University of Lisbon. 11. Practical Yoga class by Portuguese Yoga Federation followed by a concert and dance performance with Krishangi Lila Trio and Odissi Dancer Tara Chantelle Gomez 12. Screening of documentaries on Yoga shared by the Ministry with support of the CineClub, Santarém and the Portuguese Yoga Federation.