The Sungka Festival and Tournament was held on November 30 in Vienna (Austria). The event was iniated by the Vienna Ethnology Museum in cooperation with the Austrian-Philippine Society and organized by the anthropologist Professor Johann Stockinger. He explained:
"Our main idea why we staged this tournament is to open the awareness of the Filipinos and maybe interested Austrians that sungka is a unique Philippine game. Further we want to let children born in Austria with Philippine origin to learn about their cultural heritage."
The tournament was opened by Philippine Ambassador Linglingay Lacanlale together with the Ambassador of Zimbabwe, Hon. Grace Motandiro. Lacanlale said:
"We want to make people aware that we have also local ethnic games and also to tell people that this is a game that is common to many countries. This is what we want to show, that we have a culture to share and this is part of our culture."
It was hoped that the festival would become an annual event, but up to now it remained the sole one that could be realized.
External Links
- Austrian-Philippine homepage on the festival
- First “Sungka” festival and tournament held in Vienna
- Sungka Festival, Video
Copyright
© Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.