'It's about coming out and celebrating': Halifax's Indian community holds Festival of Chariots
CBC
The streets of downtown Halifax came alive with colour and music on Saturday, as hundreds gathered to celebrate Ratha Yatra, or the Festival of Chariots.
Dancers of all ages in traditional clothing led a parade of people pulling a giant wooden chariot down Spring Garden Road, as they chanted and sang.
The festival originated in the city of Puri, India, and has been going on for thousands of years. According to the festival's website: "The parade itself symbolizes the pulling of the Lord into our hearts, and it is done with great devotion."
Shammy Sohal, one of the managers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, helped start the festival in Halifax last year.
Sohal was born in Toronto, where the festival has been going on for 51 years, but now calls Halifax home.
"Who would have thought you would actually have a melting pot of diversity in a place like Nova Scotia," Sohal said.
"The Indian community, they love it ... It's not about religion. It's not about culture. It's about coming out and celebrating something that they can identify with."
Sohal's daughter, Vaishali Sohal, danced in the parade for the first time this year. She said she was nervous at first, but it quickly subsided when she saw the community coming together.
"I was actually happy knowing that everyone is welcome to come," she said. "Not just the Indian community but everyone, cause this is how we celebrate and we'd love to share that with everyone."
Vaishali's younger sisters also danced, and said they did it for their late mother, who was a dancer.
After the parade, hundreds of people gathered at the Garrison Grounds for cultural performances, live music and free Indian food.
Marshall Daley, the president of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Halifax chapter, said hundreds of volunteers worked to make the festival run smoothly.
He said they served 1,800 free meals last year and the plan was to double it this year.
"I don't want to discount anyone, however small their service," Daley said. "But, honestly, we have a few hundred people helping in various ways, from cutting vegetables to setting up the tents and banners and cleaning up afterwards.
For the first time in 111 years, items once belonging to the late Albert Mullins were back in the hands of his family members thanks to the detective work of one Montreal historian.
The year that saw the remains of two First Nations women brought home from a Manitoba landfill and a search get underway for the remains of a third showed how far reconciliation efforts have come — and how far they still need to go, the families say
The RCMP has just released a warning stating there are dangerous, armed individuals on Big Island Cree Nation, near Meadow Lake.
A new land-use plan that Alberta’s government has for the province’s Upper Smoky region is drawing criticism from environmentalists who say they believe it lacks sufficient environmental safeguards, which poses a significant threat to the endangered southern woodland caribou.
Canadian officials made pains to show they were cracking down on illicit drug production in the country in 2025.
A year after the City of Hamilton cancelled its overnight warming bus, it is funding a new all-night warming centre for men at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church on James Street S.
This year has, without a doubt, been a turbulent one for the Canadian auto industry. Uncertainty dominated the sector — both for auto workers hit with job changes and companies trying to manage a mix of tariffs and changing market conditions.
A woman died at a ski resort in the Canadian Rockies over the weekend, after falling into deep snow.
Two pregnant women who would otherwise be living in a cold tent. A man whose leg wound was so bad it required intravenous medication. Two young people who no longer need to couch surf to get by.
The province has added 12 kilometres of designated trails for all-terrain vehicles in western Prince Edward Island that will connect existing routes in O’Leary and Tignish.
Every year, CBC North publishes hundreds of stories online — breaking news, investigative reporting, political coverage, community features, longform storytelling, and much more.
After a wild year in Canadian politics that began with Justin Trudeau's resignation and ended with Conservative MPs crossing the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, 2026 is shaping up to be just as action-packed.
It became a rallying cry, a cultural touchstone, a marketing strategy and — our favourite — often described in international media as "a hockey term" or "a Canadian phrase."