Every year on 21st February hundreds of children and families join us at Central Library for International Mother Language Day, a UNESCO-sponsored annual event celebrating world languages and cultures. With up to 200 languages spoken in the city at any one time, in 2013 Manchester was named the most linguistically diverse city in Western Europe, so when it comes to celebrating International Mother Language Day, we know how to do it properly!
For this year’s celebrations at Central Library we were joined by staff from the Hungarian, Romanian and Czech consulates, who shared poems, simple phrases and mouth-watering desserts with our visitors. Adults and children in attendance also learned how to fingerspell their name with Manchester Deaf Centre and enjoyed traditional dance and music performances by Bowen Education and local Lithuanian and Armenian heritage organisations. The little ones were also treated to special storytime sessions in Spanish (delivered by Colibri Mexican Folkdance) and Greek, brought to us by our friends at Speak Greek. Speak Greek also taught children and adults to write their own names with the Greek alphabet and shared their recipe for a perfect honey sesame bar (pasteli). Click here to read more about their stall.
The event was closed by a fantastic performance by Colibri Mexican Folkdance, who brought everyone to the dancefloor!
To stay up-to-date with Central Library’s events programme, visit LibraryLive.