Auckland YAD - 18 April 2009

On the 18th of April was the day when everyone had worked very hard. It was Buddha’s Birthday. It commenced from 10:30am to 3:30pm. It started off with offering and followed by cultural performances. Offering took place not long after 10:30am. This year, the number of groups had increased just by one. Last year, there were 11 groups and this year 12 groups. Everyone from the offering gathered at the cathedral square at 8:40am. Some of the groups included the BLIA North and South Island members, Vimalakirti group, Korean group, Thai Temple, Thailand costume, Little children group, Japanese kimono group, Chinese dress from the Ming Dynasty and last of all Youth group wearing the ANZBYC ’08 shirt.

The Youth group was also part of the performances and food stalls. Performing hand gestures such as the following songs, Home of Light, Transform and Contribute, Star and Clouds, Droplets of Gratitude and Harmonise. To help fundraise for Youth group, we were selling hot bean pudding, sweet candy.
Early in the morning at 5:30am, they set out to the Cathedral Square to start setting up for the day. It included work such as setting up the chairs for VIP’S and offering, the performance stage and tanks and basically everything that needed to transport there.