One of the world's oldest living languages, carrying two thousand years of poetry, song and argument, has made a home at the edge of the world. This is where Tamil Aotearoa gathers.
Tamil was being carved into stone and sung across harbours before most of today's languages existed. Its speakers now live on every continent, and a growing number of us wake up to Tamil breakfasts and New Zealand skies.
Around the motu, that life is already being kept warm in this cool southern air: weekend language classes for kids who dream in two tongues, kolam on driveways in January, Carnatic ragas in suburban halls. Tamil Aotearoa is being built to gather it all in one place, so anyone, Tamil or not, can find their way in.
A couplet from the Thirukkural
”
அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு
“As all letters begin with A, so the world begins with its first cause.”
Our community · எங்கள் சமூகம்
Four ways in
௧
கற்றல் · Learn
Weekend Tamil schools, adult beginner circles and conversation tables, run by societies up and down the country. From tracing உ in chalk to reading Sangam poetry.
அ
௨
விழா · Celebrate
Pongal in high summer, Puthandu in autumn, Deepavali as the evenings shorten. A festival calendar flipped for the south.
பொ
௩
படைப்பு · Create
Bharatanatyam studios, Carnatic and film-song choirs, poetry open mics, and a new generation writing Tamil with Kiwi accents.
இ
௪
இணைப்பு · Connect
Tamil societies in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Kirikiriroa Hamilton and Ōtepoti Dunedin.
ஒ
The year with us · எங்கள் ஆண்டு
A festival calendar, upside down
In the south, Pongal arrives with beach weather and Karthigai lamps burn on warm early-summer nights. We would not have it any other way.
Jan
தைப்பொங்கல்Thai Pongal
The harvest festival: sweet pongal boiling over, kolam at the door, gratitude to the sun at the height of a Kiwi summer.
Apr
புத்தாண்டுPuthandu
Tamil New Year on 14 April: new clothes, mango pachadi, and the first page of a fresh year.
Aug–Sep
விநாயகர் சதுர்த்திVinayagar Chaturthi
Clay Pillaiyar made at the kitchen table, modakam steamed by the plateful, and a festival for beginnings as the winter loosens its grip.
Sep–Oct
நவராத்திரிNavaratri
Nine nights of music and dance, golu dolls stepped up a staircase of shelves, and evenings of visiting from house to house.
Oct–Nov
தீபாவளிDeepavali
The festival of lights, celebrated with the wider Aotearoa community, with lamps, sparklers and far too much sweet murukku.
Nov–Dec
கார்த்திகை தீபம்Karthigai Deepam
Rows of oil lamps on the full moon of Karthigai, warm southern evenings keeping alight the oldest festival of light in Tamil literature.
Two shores · இரு கரைகள்
வணக்கம் meets kia ora
Two languages that carry whole worlds inside them, meeting in one country. Some words hardly need translating.
வணக்கம்◆kia oraa greeting, a blessing
அன்பு◆arohalove, compassion
குடும்பம்◆whānaufamily, held wide
நன்றி◆ngā mihigratitude, acknowledgement
கடல்◆moanathe sea that carried us both
மண்◆whenualand, and belonging to it
பாடல்◆waiatasong, memory sung aloud
கதை◆kōrerostory, talk, telling
Pull up a chair.
Whether you grew up with Tamil in your ears or are meeting it for the first time, there is a place for you here. When the list opens, it will carry festivals, classes and good news from around the motu.