Tamil Heritage Week

January is significant to Tamils worldwide as it marks Thai Pongal, the traditional four-day harvest festival that honours the sun, land, rain and agriculture, the contributors to a bountiful harvest.

The Tamil people are an ethnic group originally from southern India and Sri Lanka with a recorded history going back more than 2,000 years. ‘Tamil’ includes people who speak Tamil, those whose ancestors were Tamil or those who identify with Tamil culture. Cumberland City’s Wentworthville Ward is one of the richest representations of the Tamil community in Australia, with Wentworthville, Toongabbie, Pendle Hill and Girraween featuring some of the largest Tamil communities across the nation. Pendle Hill and Toongabbie’s main streets feature an incredible array of diverse and authentic subcontinent cuisines.

Most Tamil Australians are of Indian, Sri Lankan, Singaporean or Malaysian descent. Tamil is not a religion, and is celebrated by people from the Hindu religion, as well as Islam and Christianity.

Cumberland City is one of the most culturally diverse areas in Australia, home to residents from more than 150 countries around the world. Over 50% of Cumberland City residents were born overseas, and over 70% of Cumberland City residents are Australian citizens. 65% of the population speak a language other than English at home, and Tamil language is the fifth most common language other than English with over 6,500 Cumberland residents using the Tamil language.