Every year, multiple organizations come together to host a large Diwali celebration.
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is a yearly celebration of lights victory over darkness. The celebration, which is more than 2,500 years old, is one that brings many at the university together, with over a billion people of various faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism celebrating the tradition.
The holiday does not have a fixed day, instead following the Lunar calendar. The five-day festival typically falls in late October or early November, with this time typically being when the darkest day of the lunar month, Ashvina, falls. This year, the celebration began with Dhanteras on Oct. 18, and ended with Bhai Dooj on Oct. 22.
This year’s celebration was completely sold out with 350 tickets claimed, the maximum capacity allowed by the Beckerman Recreational Center. The event contained a number of student performers whose acts ranged from traditional dance and music to modern fusion acts, representing the diverse cultural backgrounds found within the campus community.
The scale of this event meant a long preparation and a number of processes for the organizations involved in hosting it. “Organizing an event of this scale typically takes about 2-3 months of preparation,” said Indian Student Council (ISC) president Harika Korrapati. “This includes securing the venue, coordinating performers, managing catering and decor, and ensuring all logistics align with university guidelines.”
When dealing with an event involving long and complex preparations, hosts face a number of challenges. “Like any large-scale event, we faced a few challenges along the way – particularly with planning logistics, budgeting, and organizing a large team of volunteers and performers,” said Korrapati. “However, with strong collaboration, support from our e-board and advisors, and consistent communication, we were able to overcome these hurdles and bring the vision to life.”
To Korrapati, Diwali is for the community to celebrate values that others share throughout all cultures. “It’s not just about the festival itself, but about coming together as a community to celebrate hope, renewal, and positivity – values that resonate across all cultures and traditions.”
While ISC’s vision is to create a celebration for all students to enjoy, some expressed discontent with the execution of this vision, feeling it didn’t fully capture what Diwali is about.
Junior student Jessica Chavali left India to study in the U.S. at the age of 17. Growing up in India, she celebrated numerous Hindu festivals throughout her youth.
“We would wake up early in the morning and prepare for these holiday days in advance to prepare the right menu, perform the religious rituals, buy the traditional outfits, invite people, etc.,” said Chavali. “It would be a grand celebration that would just light up not only our homes, but also our lives.”
Chavali began to miss the cultural celebrations and food from India when she arrived at the university. When she found out about ISC, she began attending their events and felt at home. “When I go to these events for a few moments, I forget I’m even halfway across the globe,” said Chavali. However, this year’s Diwali celebration did not have this effect for her.
“This Diwali event lacked the vibrancy I talked about earlier,” Chavali said. “The energy in the crowd itself was dull, the lighting made it worse as only half the space in the rec was lit up, and the food was just not it.”
Chavali took issue with these aspects of the celebration as she felt they missed the mark when it came to the Hindu “festival of lights.”
“So, the bland menu and the bland crowd, in the bland venue, just didn’t excite me or make me feel like I was celebrating anything,” said Chavali.
Despite the flaws Chavali pointed out, she encourages students to still attend events regarding various cultures and their traditions to learn more about what others celebrate and how they live.
“For students who are curious about other cultures, I would definitely encourage them to attend these events cause one thing about the international community on campus is that they heartfully welcome anybody trying to learn more about their culture,” Chavali said.
Chavali attributes this hospitality to the shared experience of international students who have to arrive in the U.S., learn about American culture and involve themselves on campus. “We understand curiosity, and we would welcome anyone interested with warmth and compassion,” said Chavali.
Despite Chavali’s concerns about the execution of this year’s Diwali celebration, encourages all to feed their curiosity for cultural understanding by attending multicultural events.
