Yesterday, the Spring festival was celebrated all over the island. Meals shared with the family and firecrackers are some of the traditions perpetuated by the Chinese diaspora. The Ming Tek centre has celebrated this special event in its own manner ? and the festivities are only just beginning?

Next Saturday, the municipality of Quatre-Bornes has invited the centre?s dancing school to give a show on the occasion of the Spring festival. ?During the year, we often get invitations to hold shows; we choose among the proposals we have but we generally refuse any commercial activity. We are also invited every year by one of the municipalities in Reunion to give a show there; unfortunately this year the date they chose clashed with the family celebrations of the Spring festival and parents were not keen on letting their children go away during this particular period,? explains Father Régis, the director of the centre.

But the centre has nevertheless celebrated the event fittingly. Many churches have held special masses but the main one was by Bishop Maurice Piat, in Port-Louis cathedral. After the mass, a special tribute was paid to ancestors. ?The church knows how important it is for Mauritians of Chinese origin to make offerings to their ancestors so the bishop accepted to include this tradition in the service,? says Father Régis.

The Ming Tek centre differs from other organisations that promote Chinese culture in that ?the main aim of the centre is evangelisation,? highlights the director. The centre belongs to the diocese and it is managed by the Chinese Catholic mission. Moreover, the director, who is in charge of the Chinese Catholic mission, was appointed by the bishop last October. He replaced Paul Wu, a Chinese Catholic priest, who founded the centre some 25 years ago.

?The main idea behind the Ming Tek centre was to show people that being Catholic did not mean that we could not be interested in our ancestral culture. So what the centre tries to do is evangelisation through culture. Culture is valuable,? he points out. If today, the centre organises a lot of activities such as sports, dance, outings and reflection groups, religion remains the main focus.

?We are trying to offer interesting activities to young people such as first aid and reflections on ways of solving conflicts? We must admit that although we have a large number of young people taking part in our activities, the hard core is made up of a relatively small group?? He also admits that most young people would never take the initiative of perpetuating Chinese traditions in their daily lives. ?With their studies, they do not really have time for this. But when adults talk to them about traditional activities, they are generally very keen on trying?? It seems to be just a matter of making the first step!