On Nov. 20, the celebration of lights took place at Business Hall in Room 104. The event was to celebrate Diwali and was hosted by the South Asian Students Association (SASA) and co-sponsoring the event was the Social Justice, Inclusion, and Conflict Resolution (SJICR).
Diwali is a Hindu festival of lights with variations celebrated in other Indian religions. The festival symbolizes the spiritual “victory of light over the darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.” The festival is celebrated around mid-September and mid-November.
Many activities took place during the event that students could participate in. There was diya decorating, a clay pot that you put ghee in, and a cotton wick that is like a candle but instead of dripping wax, it melts like butter. It would typically be lit up in front of a person’s house on the day of the celebration. There was rangoli which is like sand art where you make spherical designs on porches or front doors. The event had wooden stencils and the sand to do that inside but it would typically be done outside. There were door decorations and bracelets that people were able to participate in making as well.
If students were hungry there was food that was provided as well. Vegetarian samosas that were filled with potatoes and chickpeas. Paneer, chicken, naan, and rice were also served. Desserts were served such as gulab jamun, which is usually made with milk solids, sugar, rose water, and cardamom.
President of Rowan SASA Mohini Gulati stated the importance of having the event on campus.
“I actually think it’s important to have the event just to show support to everyone,” said Gulati. “We don’t really have a big South Asian population on campus and I think especially for the international students, it turns into a way for them to feel included and actually meet everyone. I think it’s just important to show support for everyone. It’s a good way to celebrate our people more or less stuff like that.”
Although Diwali is a religious festival, Gulati understands the importance of making the event inclusive to everyone.
“The event that we’re celebrating is where our activities are less religious based and more cultural based,” said Gulati. “So it’s not as much praying as it is more like just coming and decorating stuff with us. So I think a core of what we do is to make it less religious and less Hindu and more cultural so people don’t feel like it’s a religion that we’re practicing, but more of just a celebration.”
There are South Asian international students that went to the event and Gulati knows the importance of the event for them.
“One thing I realized from the past is we do have a handful of South Asian international students, which if you can imagine it from their perspective to be so far away from home and not be with your family on such an important holiday,” said Gulati. “Like the equivalent of most of the school attendees not being home with their families to celebrate Christmas. So the least that we could do and the university could do was to create and allow us to have an event to just let them feel included on their own.”
Dominique Pierson, the manager of SJICR and the current advisor of SASA was in attendance and helped organize the event to make it inclusive to everyone.
“One way we know people feel most seen and heard is when they’re celebrating their culture and they’re able to highlight parts of their identity that are extremely important to them,” said Pierson.
SASA is changing its advisor to Tejinder Billing, a professor at the College of Business and the Department of Management. She has been at Rowan since 2009 and sees the growing population of South Asian students and is happy to see many who are not South Asian or Hindu attend the event.
“It’s really endearing to see the student population not only from the region but international students also here,” said Billing. “We need to cherish the diversity we have here on campus and enrich it. And I think events like this bring people together, not only from a South Asian context but for everyone together and enriches everyone’s lives. So it’s really important in my view.”
Planning the event actually started over the summer with multiple meetings throughout the semester to decide what activities and food they wanted for the event. There were issues that did come up trying to organize the event said Gulati.
The event was postponed as the initial Rowan Announcer went out on Nov.13 in the Student Center Ballroom. Gulati stated that they figured attendance would be low as SGA was having a senator meeting and many people that wanted to attend the event were going to the meeting. Agreeing on the location where the event was taking place was another difficulty. Even ordering food was a hassle as there were food waivers and members had to attend meetings to get the waivers.
“The bill has to be a certain price, the food has to be tax-free,” said Gulati. “The co-sponsoring department has to make sure they’re able to use their card, which means they have to submit forms”.
Krisha Darji, a senior biomedical engineering major, Hindu, and South Asian, participated in the event and loved that the event was taking place at Rowan.
“I think it’s a huge step for Rowan because I think this is the first time that we’ve had something like this and where a lot of the Hindu community is actually gathering and there’s also other people who are willing to learn about Hinduism,” said Darji.
For many at the event, it was their first time attending the event such as Alex McFarland, a junior and management of information system major, who didn’t even hear about the holiday until two weeks ago.
“I think it’s really fun,” said McFarland. “It’s a really good turnout. The food’s amazing. And it seems like SASA really put a lot of good effort into the event.”
Even though McFarland isn’t South Asian or Hindu he appreciates Rowan allowing the event to take place.
“This is a very diverse campus, especially when it comes to Indian students here and they really show that they care about their students and this is a great display,” said McFarland. “And they do care and they do want to show support, but especially for this huge holiday.”
The next event that SASA will be hosting is their Christmas SASA GBM on Dec. 4 in the Business Hall.
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