Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Local Refugee Community Celebrates Karen New Year

The Crawford High School auditorium was decorated in traditional Karen decor on Jan. 12 to celebrate the Karen New Year.

Karen youth presented a colorful show of traditional fashion, music and dance before moving on to the cafeteria to share a meal.

It’s an important holiday for the Karen people, whose culture is religiously diverse. The Karen New Year is not specific to just one religion and allows the community to bond together. In the Karen state of Burma, this is the season of the rice harvest and a time to celebrate the abundance that hard work brought in.