Students celebrate Diwali
November 18, 2022
On Saturday evening, the South Asian Students Association (SASA) invited students to gather in Moulton Union to celebrate Diwali, or the festival of lights. The night was complete with food, dancing and celebration.
At 6 p.m., guests were welcomed with food from Mughal Place and the opportunity to eat in community.
“We sat everyone on the floor, which was decorated very nicely with cloth and flowers,” SASA Senior Co-Leader Pranay Singh ’23 said. “It’s very common in South Asian cultures to eat on the floor before weddings and various other celebrations.”
After dinner, a classical dance performance and a fashion show, guests were invited outside for a quintessential conclusion to the night: lighting sparklers.
“Typically, people like [light] fireworks and sparklers and things like that, as Diwali is the festival of lights,” Singh said. “So, we made sure that we had sparklers for everyone before going back inside and opening up the dance floor back up.”
Singh believes that this event holds a special significance for Bowdoin’s South Asian community as well as gives other Bowdoin students the opportunity to join in on the festivities.
“I think it was incredibly successful—seeing so many familiar faces and new faces together in one big room celebrating an event that’s near and dear to many South Asian students was really nice to see,” Singh said. “That sense of belonging is definitely really important to me.”
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