Diwali festival ushers in winter

The India Student Association (ISA) hosted the Indian festival known as Diwali on Nov. 13 in rooms A, B and C of the Sam Rayburn Student Center.

This was their sixth annual celebration of Diwali, which is a yearly holiday in India.

Diwali translates to "Festival of Lights" and is celebrated over a five-day span. It represents the Hindu New Year, marks the start of winter and honors the victory of good over evil.

Traditions associated with this holiday consist of cleaning or decorating of homes, buying new clothes and giving each other sweets and gifts during the festival. They also vary, depending on what part of India Diwali is celebrated in. For senior education major Urvi Bhatt, this event brought more than one difference.

"A lot of people here are from the south side of India and I am from the west," Bhatt said. "So if I wanted to talk to them in my language, they could not understand me and I could not understand their language. In every state there is a different dialect. We could only speak to each other in English."

Bhatt said she enjoyed Diwali and is looking forward to future celebrations.

"I really loved it," she said. "It was the first time I have attended and I'm already planning what I want to do next year."

During the event, there were several performances by groups and individuals dancing to non-traditional and traditional music.

Between the dancing, there was a fashion show in which women and men modeled traditional Indian dress.

After the fashion show and more dancing, a slide show of India and the celebration of Diwali was shown. It had many pictures of Indians telling the story of how India has grown.

Throughout the entire show, there were two hosts announcing the acts. Freshman technology major Sujanya Kirla was one of them.

"I thought it went very well," Kirla said. "It was my first time to host and I enjoyed it."

Dr. Dan Creider is the faculty sponsor of the ISA and teaches computer science. He said he decided to take the job because he sees so many of the students regularly.

"I figured it was a good fit since I have most of these students in my class," he said. "I know them very well and it made sense to be their sponsor."

To conclude the ceremony, all performers went onto the dance floor one last time to sing the Indian National Anthem.

Sophomore education major Sky Blue was among the attendees not associated with the ISA.

"I had always been interested in Indian culture and decided this would be a good opportunity to have the experience," Blue said. "I really enjoyed the dancing and music, and thought it was a good way to get people interested in their culture. The pride exhibited in their culture made me respect them more."