Colours of Harmony: More than Just Cultures

The kids of the DBS Contingent giving their best for the full dress rehearsals. They’ve committed as many hours as the adults for the Chingay Parade 2020. (PHOTO BY: Bhairavan Nadarajah)

Chingay was just a small event held on the streets of Singapore with handcrafted floats assembling with approximately 2,000 performers. Fast forward to today, Chingay is now a modernised event, showcasing performances on a larger scale participated by 6,000 performers differing from age, race and even sexual identity.

Ms Natalie Trog, a transgender woman from the Eurasian Association, mentioned her past experiences on this year’s theme. “I remember as a child, we were all playing together under the void deck regardless of race and religion. We are an inclusive society and this year’s theme really does highlight that.”

She further elaborates on how she finds the rehearsals to be “very united” and feels a sense of pride to be able to represent both the Eurasian and the LGBT community. Especially when many pockets of community in Singapore have come together to make the event a success.

Despite being a conservative nation with the theme of this year’s Chingay, we can really see the effort to include people from all walks of life. Welcoming people of transgender identities is a step towards inclusivity as the LGBT community will start to feel more accepted into society without the fear of being judged.

That being said, it is equally inspiring to see both the young and the old giving their time to perform for Chingay. With various age groups ranging from juniors just 5-years old to the seniors reaching up to 82 years of age, the difference between the oldest to the youngest has definitely increased from Chingay 2019.

Carey and Xin Xing, aged 9, are both from the DBS Children’s Contingent. They say it is “very exciting” to perform for the audience and seeing them entertained also makes them happy.

“When you perform on a normal stage, you feel like the stage is so small. There’s not much space to dance in. When you perform in Chingay, it feels like you are walking and dancing.” Carey described her feelings as she performed along the long stretch of road, feeling free in Chingay compared to the constricting stage.

Mrs Betty, 57, from the Singapore Buddhist Contingent strongly believes Singapore is a “place of harmony”. Even though the parades from the previous years had a smaller age gap between the oldest performer and the youngest, there are many children and pioneers were involved this time.

“I think the theme this year represents Singapore the best,” Said Ms Betty. “You can see in the performances that many people of different backgrounds are involved.”

At the end of the day, through this inclusivity, there is a sense of belonging and connectedness within the people. This is how the ‘Colours of Harmony’ applies in this year’s parade, showing that harmony does not only include people differing in terms of race and age, but also people in the LGBT community. This is definitely Singapore’s first few steps in building an all-embracing nation, in the 21st century.