<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>337945</docID> <postdate>2025-02-10 11:51:51</postdate> <headline>Mother Language Day marchers take to the lake</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-337948" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Zambian-Culture-Dancing-Group-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="596" /></p> <caption>Zambian Culture Dancing Group will be performing at the International Mother Language Day walk around the lake on February 23.</caption> <p><strong>International Mother Language Day (February 21) will be marked in Canberra on February 23 with an annual walk around Lake Burley Griffin.</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With the 2025 theme Languages Matter, this is the Silver Jubilee celebration of International Mother Language Day, officially gazetted by UNESCO in 1999 in recognition of the date when Bengali-speaking students, demonstrating for their language, were gunned down in Dhaka, Bangladesh.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now it’s a thriving focal point for linguistic diversity and its role in fostering understanding.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The walkers will this year be accompanied by songs from around the world played on the National Carillon.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After gathering at the International Flag Display below Questacon car park, where free, themed T-shirts will be distributed, the language lovers will be waved off by the Zambian Culture Dancing Group and the Prosperous Mountain Lion Dancers before crossing King’s Avenue Bridge. The walk ends near the National Workers Memorial with a sausage sizzle and more cultural performances</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">More from </span><a href="mailto:imlm.21feb@gmail.com"><span style="font-weight: 400;">imlm.21feb@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, call 0434 436 315 or visit </span><a href="http://imlm21.org.au/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">imlm21.org.au</span></a></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> </body>