Cultures unite for evening of food, prizes
Jennifer Skornicka experienced the holidays a little earlier this year.
But they weren’t typical American holidays — they were holidays celebrated by cultures from all over the world.
The CMU alumna attended the ninth annual Unified Holiday Celebration on Tuesday night in Bovee University Center Rotunda and Terrace rooms.
“These events are important because we need to realize that there is a whole world beyond our front door,” said Skornicka, a former of member of Native American Student Organization. “Diversity is a good thing, and we need to celebrate that.”
Almost 400 people attended the celebration to learn about different ethnic cultures, religions and holiday traditions and experience them firsthand.
Minority Student Services hosted the event, which featured entertainment, food and children’s crafts to highlight holidays such as the Chinese New Year, Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ramadan.
Many student organizations attended to inform participants of the various cultural holidays. Among them were the Hillel/Jewish Student Organization, Celebrating Amity and Reflecting Asian Traditions through Sisterhood, the Asian Cultural Organization and the Muslim Student Organization.
“It’s important to expose students to the smaller groups that are on campus,” said Jaymie Morton, Farmington Hills junior and a member of the Hillel/Jewish Student Organization. “It’s good to inform everyone of the smaller groups like the Hillel/Jewish Student Organization and about different holidays, like Ramadan, because a lot of people aren’t aware of them.”
Nou Her said she didn’t think the event was going to be as large as it was.
“It was my first time attending and I thought it would be a little get-together, but the atmosphere was really nice,” the Traverse City freshman said.
Her favorite part of the celebration was the gospel group Divine Order’s performance. The group sang the gospel songs “Bring Me Your Glory” and “I Will Bless the Lord.”
Other highlights of the celebration included Victorious Vessels of Praise’s dance performance and the Muslim Student Organization’s presentation of Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday which marks the end of Ramadan.
