Rwanda celebrates national harvest day

Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-02 21:26:26|Editor: Wu Qin
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KIGALI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan on Friday mark the country's annual harvest day locally known as "Umuganura", following a week of various traditional activities in different parts of the country.

National celebrations held in Nyanza district, southern Rwanda, on Friday featured entertainments with traditional recipes, serving of milk to children, recognition of selected districts for their achievements in various domains, and sharing of traditional foods.

The Rwandan government donated heifers to selected families at the celebrations.

"Umuganura is a special annual day for our country. It is an occasion to celebrate the achieved harvest by hands of Rwandans. Celebrating the achievements goes hand in hand with commitment to safeguard them and resolve to achieve even more," Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente said while speaking at the celebrations.

Among the achievements registered in the past year, Ngirente mentioned that various national roads were constructed and others restored, while district roads and feeder roads were also constructed.

These infrastructure was aimed to help farmers transport their produce to the market, ease international trade, improve settlement and boost development, he said.

He also challenged the youth to embrace work for personal and national prosperity.

Esperance Nyirasafari, Rwandan minister of sports and culture, urged Rwandans to draw motivation from the celebrations to work harder to create more achievements.

Friday's celebrations were preceded by a cultural night festival on Thursday evening, which is organized to promote Nyanza as a travel destination and to cultivate cultural values among Rwandans.

Umuganura is celebrated annually on every first Friday of August and is a public holiday in Rwanda.

Traditionally, the day was a cultural event marked by Rwandans at the onset of every harvest season to celebrate achievements in terms of crop harvest both at the kingdom and family level. But lately the celebration is no longer about crop harvest alone but encompasses achievements in varied aspects such as agriculture, health, education, industry, among others.

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