Panorama India 2023, with the support of the Consulate General of India, celebrated India’s 76th anniversary of Indian Independence Day on August 20th, 2023 at Nathan Phillips Square.
The Panorama India Parade
The Panorama India event celebrated the vibrant culture, art and heritage of India. The event started with the Grand Parade down Bay Street, across King Street West, up University Avenue, then back to Nathan Phillips Square on Queen Street West. There, Nathan Phillips Square was transformed into a lively place with the sites, sounds, and flavors of India.
These two gentlemen on Queen Street West were preparing for the Panorama India Parade, which was gathering at Nathan Phillips SquareOn Queen Street West, arriving back at Nathan Phillips Square
Panorama India Celebrations at Nathan Phillips Square
As the parade wound down the crowd returned to Nathan Phillips Square. There was plenty of food, entertainment and dancing for the rest of the day:
At Nathan Phillips SquareHenna applicationDancers from the Tamil Nadu Cultural Society Of Canada
On August 19 and 20 the Toronto Chinatown Business Improvement Area hosted its 23rd annual Toronto Chinatown Festival on Spadina Avenue, running from Sullivan Street to College Street.
This year the Festival’s theme was Flaming Phoenix: Rebirth & Uprising, signifying the rebirth of our city after COVID-19. In Chinese mythology, the Phoenix is an immortal bird whose rare appearance is said to be an omen foretelling harmony at the ascent to the throne of a new emperor – the same might be applied to our city as we try to put COVID behind us.
Falun Dafa Parade
Making my way up Spadina Avenue to the Festival, I encountered a parade from the Falun Dafa practitioners. They were supporting the 417 million Chinese people who have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. The parade began at Clarence Park and wound through the streets of Chinatown. As far as I know, this parade was not connected with the Chinatown Festival in any way.
Toronto Chinatown Festival
Moving further north up Spadina Avenue I found the actual Festival. This year’s Festival seemed really scaled back to me and there didn’t seem to be that much of interest to photograph; regardless I found:
Lots of street food…
Plenty of jewellery and clothing vendors…
Magicians…
Singers…
And various street stuff…
Moving out of the Festival area and further down Spadina Avenue, I encountered Saturday afternoon market shoppers:
This past weekend saw the two-day Festival of South Asia take over Gerrard Street East from Glenside Avenue to Coxwell Avenue.
The main focus of the Festival of South Asia is to celebrate the diversity of South Asian culture. The festival is now in its 21st year, and is one of the largest festivals of its kind in North America. It’s a multi-cultural experience of tastes, sounds and sights of South Asia.
Throughout the day there were stage performances, a kids zone, an arts and culture market, participatory workshops and activities, and roaming entertainers along Gerrard Street. Unfortunately the sun was particularly cruel last Sunday so I didn’t stay quite as long as I would have liked.
Dance exhibitionFood stallsVendorsColourful clothes for sale in the marketMarketplacePakora, Samosas and moreSome of the Kids ZoneJewellery VendorDance exhibitionDance exhibitionMural on Gerrard Street EastHenna applicationFood truckGrilled food on Gerrard Street East
The 51st annual Festival of India (also known as Ratha-Yatra) took place this past weekend in Toronto. The very first Festival of India in Toronto launched in 1972, and has been growing steadily every year.
This year’s Festival of India parade ran down Yonge Street to Queens Quay West. Three giant floats (called Chariots) were hand-pulled by thousands of attendees and spectators, and there was much singing, chanting, drumming and dancing in the streets. Everyone was encouraged to participate. The parade attendance and spectator involvement this year was massive, due I’m sure to the public returning en masse to events post-COVID.
What is the Festival of India all about?
To answer that question, I’ll refer to a bit of explanatory text from the Festival of India’s website:
The parade down Yonge Street echoes an annual procession that has occurred for centuries in the ancient city of Puri, India. There, three mammoth chariots, known as rathas are taken on a jubilant procession, called a yatra. Hence, the Festival is also known as Ratha-Yatra or “chariot procession”. In Puri, this age-old Ratha-Yatra procession continues to attract over a million people every year!
Seated on each float (chariot) are beautifully bedecked Deities of Jagannatha (another name for Krishna or God), Baladeva (Krishna’s brother), and Subhadra (Krishna’s sister). The procession itself symbolizes the pulling of the Lord into our hearts and this is done with great pomp and grandeur.
In the late 1960s, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the worldwide Hare Krishna Society (ISKCON), inaugurated the North American and international versions of this ancient Indian festival. With roots steeped in spiritual traditions, the festival is now celebrated in every major city around the world, including London, Paris, Sydney, and New York.
The Toronto Festival of India Parade 2023
The chariots roll down Yonge Street surrounded by the crowdTrumpeting on a conch shellDancing down Yonge StreetPeople, people, and more people Yonge Street was very congested
If you would like to view my 2017 album of the Festival of India, which includes the post-parade activities, click here. That year the event was much less crowded and had a more subdued vibe to it.
Well, the streets have been swept, the tourists have (mostly) gone and the village has settled back down to its everyday rhythm. Toronto Pride is over for another year but it left in its wake a lot of memories. For today’s TOcityscapes, I give you a small sampling of this past weekend’s mayhem (each image is clickable for a larger view).
There were…
Merchants & Vendors…
Dancing In The Street…
Pride Pups…
Lots of Love, Colour & Messages…
Random Oddities & Mayhem…
If I could put a thought bubble above this woman, it would say: “What the f…?!” I thought the same when I first saw this tree taking a cigarette break.
Coming home last night I spied this new mural on the northeast corner of Gloucester Street and Church Street. Very fitting, I thought, as we’re one week away from Pride:
I’m not exactly sure what the issue was that day, but I happened to catch this Algerian protest as I passed through Yonge-Dundas Square, April 6, 2019.
This shot always amuses me – the chic model in the upper right is completely at odds with the rest of the demonstration. The model seems to be almost mocking the crowd.
Hello to my faithful subscribers! Just a quick post today to let you know that TOcityscapes is going on a little hiatus.
I am off to Tuscany, Italy on a much-delayed photography trip. There won’t be any TOcityscapes posts for a couple of weeks, but if you’d like to follow my travel adventures on this upcoming trip, just head on over to my travel site and subscribe. That way the system will send you alerts when I publish new travel posts from Italy. I am hoping to blog daily if I can while there, but I’ll just have to see how my time goes – due to the photographic nature of this trip there will be a lot of early mornings and late nights. If I can’t blog while there I’ll definitely post once I’m home again.
Here is my travel site: Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost. You’ll find the Subscribe tool on the About and Contact pages, and in the site’s footer.
If you do subscribe – thank you! The site is “in growth” at the moment, but developing as time goes by.
The annual Good Friday Procession is a Toronto tradition which has been held every Good Friday for the last 70 years. After three dormant years due to COVID-19 the Procession, which commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, has returned to take over the streets of Toronto’s Little Italy on Good Friday.
The Good Friday Procession starts on Good Friday at 3 PM at St. Francis of Assisi Church (Mansfield Ave & Grace St), and goes through the Little Italy neighbourhood, before circling back to the church. The Procession includes religious statues, bands and people representing different characters associated with the Passion of Christ.
The Good Friday Procession follows this route:
Assembling The Procession
I’ve attended the Good Friday Procession once, in 2018, to photograph the spectacle. The most interesting shots are the ones in which the participants assemble at St. Francis of Assisi Church prior to the actual procession through Little Italy:
The Good Friday Procession Across College Street
The procession is a mile-long march re-enacting the fourteen Stations of the Cross (Jesus on his way to his crucifixion):
I came upon this by accident with a friend when it was under construction. At the time we said we…