By Maria Sanchez, Contributing writer
Diwali is mostly celebrated in India and Nepal and it is the festival of lights. It is a five-day celebration of the victory of light over darkness. During Diwali, people perform worship ceremonies to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Because the festival falls on the same day as the Hindu New Year, it is connected with an opportunity to start again.
This past Friday, November 5th, 2021, Diwali was celebrated at Saint Leo University. The event took place in Kirk Hall and was organized and directed by the Bridge Program.
The Bridge Program is for international students who need help to improve their English. This program accompanies them throughout their university studies until they have the sufficient tools to face American college life.
Dr. Iona Sarieva, director of the Bridge Program, mentioned that she decided to celebrate Diwali this year instead of the annual picnic she usually does.
“Many Indian and Nepalese students came this semester, and they were feeling very homesick. Besides making the students feel at home, I also wanted to allow them to share their culture with other university members,” said Sarieva.
The Bridge Program students from India and Nepal were the ones who organized the whole event. They assembled small committees and planned the entire evening to enjoy.
When first arriving to the event, two female students welcomed guests. They wore beautiful sarees, which are the typical Indian ethnic dresses used for special occasions. They asked everyone to take their shoes off to start the ceremony. It began with guests holding a plate with a candle and a dollar as they circled it seven times around the table designated to worship Lakshmi.
Indian music was blasting in the background, and the table was filled with typical Indian food and sweets.
Monika Fnu, freshman from India majoring in management, said, “We wanted to celebrate Diwali because we are homesick, and we don’t have any family members here.”
One of the girls passed and painted everyone with a red dot in the middle of their forehead, while one of the boys followed her and gave an almond and a piece of coconut to eat right after. When that was done, the students did other Indian face painting with dots of different colors for people who wanted it.
They worshipped Lakshmi for around fifteen minutes by taking turns to circle the worship table seven times each with a plate with a candle and money in it. After the worshipping was done, it was time for eating. Guests sat around the table and enjoyed delicious Indian food. There were options available for more picky eaters that could not handle a lot of Indian food.
As the night went on, guests danced to Indian music and played two ice breaker games to get to know everyone that attended the event.
It was an enjoyable night for everyone. It made the Indian and Nepalese students feel celebrated and special in a country that is not their own. They had the most fun and did not want the night to end; the celebration lasted three hours, and they still wanted to keep going.
“We planned to share this part of our culture with all the Indian residents and others who wanted to join. This is very important for my culture because we worship the goddess Lakshmi, who is the goddess of money,” Fnu reflected.
It is important to embrace the different cultures at Saint Leo because everyone should feel accepted. Besides being fun, celebrating and getting to know new cultures fosters open-mindedness and respect. When we all celebrate our differences together, we broaden our perspectives and educate ourselves.
