The snowflake palm @ Lokalhistoriewiki.no

In this winter holiday, youngsters have taken writing as a tool and method to tell the stories of Tamil-Norwegians for present and future generations in Norway, where anyone can retrieve at any time, and while developing their social and learning skills.

The Tamil page at Lokalhistoriewiki.no was created in 2016 and reactivated in spring 2020. It was named “Snøfnuggpalmen-பூம்பனிப்பனை” on 20.09.2021 and was assigned a logo. The logo was chosen to illustrate Tamils in Norway surrounded by Nordic climate and was named according, meaning “The snowflake palm”.

This is the second wiki workshop at the Tamil Resource and Guidance Centre Foundation (TRVS) followed by an information meeting on 13th February 2022. The information meeting was organised at TRVS in collaboration with Annai Poopathi Tamil Cultural Centre (APTKS). Students of APTKS studying Tamil at the 10th, 11th and 12th grade were the participants on that day. The executive team of “The snowflake palm” project informed us about the wiki project, how to write lexical articles and the benefits of writing.

Today’s workshop facilitated eight youngsters with the writing process at Lokalhistoriewiki.no. The youngsters created user accounts at Lokalhistoriewiki.no, had brainstorming, teamwork, knowledge sharing, guidance and information gathering. The day was productive with eight lexical articles. They were about Tamils´cricket in Norway, a coding course organised by Tamils at TRVS and a robot course organised by Tamils at TRVS. These articles are specifically related to Tamil-Norwegians. The articles about muṟukku (முறுக்கு), vaṭai (வடை), piṭṭu, (பிட்டு) and cāmpāṟu (சாம்மாறு) tell the stories of Tamil food culture. Poṭṭu/ ciraṭṭai poṭṭu (பொட்டு/ சிரட்டை பொட்டு) comes under Tamils´ make-up tradition. Last, but not least article about pūcai (பூசை) will look at the difference in religious worship in Sanskrit and Tamil languages. The day was effective as well as a meeting place for both the youngsters and the organisers in the winter holidays with social conversation, food, drink, Kahoot and laughter.

The project of “Snøfnuggpalmen-பூம்பனிப்பனை” (The snowflake palm) is a collective initiative where many different actors from the Tamil society are contributing to a common cause with a collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Local History. From the Tamil society, it includes media support from various Tamil media in Norway (Tamil Murasam (10.10.2021), Norway Radio Tamil (26.10.2021), Ilangkatru (Tamil radio by Tamil youths in Norway), Norway News Tamil (23.02.2022), Norway News Tamil (24.02.2022), Vaseeharan Creation Tamil (27.02.2022) and Bergen Tamil e-Newspaper (February 2022)), distribution of information within Tamil organisations and on their social media, provision of event rooms to hold the wiki workshop, facilitation contact and relationship-building with the youngsters, contribution and support from the parents and the youngsters and provision of information and knowledge about the history of Tamil-Norwegians.

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The executive team welcome everyone, regardless of age and generation, to future wiki workshops, who can write about Tamils in Norway in Norwegian. Tell the story of our existence at Lokalhistoriewiki.no. Contribute to preserve and disseminate Tamil migration history in Norway for present and future generations, where anyone can retrieve at any time.

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