A CELEBRATION of East Timorese dancing and culture will be held in Blackbird Leys this Saturday with festivities continuing well into the night.
The event has been planned to follow May 20, the date on which East Timor gained independence in 2002, which is celebrated each year across the globe.
The East Timorese community in Oxford has been holding its own events at the Sacred Heart church, Sawpit Road, for the last two years and will be joined this year by a special guest, Don Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, a Roman Catholic bishop who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.
About 200 people are expected to attend a mass beginning at 3pm, during which the local East Timorese choir will sing and youngsters will read poetry.
Several types of dance will be performed by adults and children alike and both Bishop Belo and local priest Fr Nazarius Mgungwe will give speeches to the congregation.
A band from East Timor will then perform while participants sit down to a meal together.
Co-organiser Carla Liu Goncalves said the event would be "a bit of a festival" lasting until midnight or even 1am on Sunday.
She added that members of the East Timorese community in Bristol would also be travelling town for the day to compete with some dance moves of their own.
All are welcome.
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