Diwali Celebration At Rowan University

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Diwali starts with lights, dozens of candles and clay lamps called Diyas, lighting up the streets and homes.

Diwali is an Indian traditional festival of lights, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Light represents good. The entire celebration lasts about five days and is usually celebrated in October.

Drashty Patel, 23, from India remembers what it is like to be in her home country around this time. She talked about the candles and beautiful colorful street decorations. She also talked about bright color flowers that are used to decorate their home and everything else.

Patel is a senior at Rowan University. She explained that her experiences at Rowan so far have been great. She has been making friends and learning a lot. Patel says Diwali is similar to American holidays. Diwali is celebrated by the Hindu, Sikh, and Jain different religious communities. Patel further explained that in India she would have been gathering with her family to celebrate.

However, On October 24, Patel finds herself at Rowan's two year annual Diwali festival, taking place at the student center.

There was music, traditional Indian food, color painting and a henna tattoo contest. Patel appreciated that Rowan was putting an effort into providing such cultural experience for her and her friends. She hopes that next year Rowan will be able to have a bigger celebration, something that resembles that of how they celebrated in India.

Earlier today Patel had called her family back at home to wish them a great holiday. With the difference between American and Indian time zones, Patel sometimes finds it difficult to communicate with her family. On a day like this she is missing them a lot.

Diya Patel, 18, from India is another student who attended the Rowan Diwali festival. She enjoys the social environment at Rowan. She feels welcome in the community and has made a lot of friends. When she does encounter challenges, she can count on her roommate to be of assistance. Like Patel she wished she was home celebrating with her family. She is happy with the community and support she is getting from Rowan, going to an event like this was an easy decision for her. Many who attended the festival like Patel are open to other students who are not from India or of their cultural background, to experience their festival and to share this moment with them.

Melanie Ibarra, graduate coordinator in SJICR for interfaith, feels grateful to be part of creating the second annual Diwali festival at Rowan.

“ I learned that students want to see themselves, I am just grateful that SASA came to us to put this together.”

SASA is the South Asian Student Association at Rowan. Reached out to Ibbara’s department to host this event, and Ibbara and their team were able to help bring their vision to life. There were a few minor tweaks to make sure that they were following the school guidelines. Ibbara was satisfied with the number of students turnout, there were about 90% who showed up from the registration list.

Like SASA, Social justice inclusion and conflict resolution(SJICR), the department Ibbara works for, strives to represent the body of students at rowan. This is one way for them to make sure that different bodies of students are seen and heard. In the future Ibbara hopes that this festival will become a staple event in the rowan community. Allowing for more people to attend and enjoy the experience of learning and sharing different cultures.

At the end of the night attendees gather in front of the student center to light up their candles and fireworks. Ending the celebration with colorful light and a brighter look into the future.