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Students of the india Student Association celebrated the festival of Holi Sunday in reaves Park, which takes place every spring. Participants celebrated by throwing colored powders as a symbol of equality and brotherhood.
Throwing color to show unity India Student Association celebrates festival of Holi CEDAR FLOYD
Campus reporter
Sunday afternoon, just as many people were getting home from Easter services, a group of students gathered to smear colors, not on hard-boiled eggs, but on each other in a different kind of spring celebration. The festival of Holi, hosted Sunday in Reaves Park by the India Student Association, takes place every spring
and is celebrated by smearing colored powders on the faces of family and friends as a symbol of equality and brotherhood, said Dhanya Dharma Rajan, president of the association and electric and computer engineering masters student. The festival is particularly prominent in northern India, where an entire city will gather in one place to dance, play with color and drink Thandai, a sweet, spiced milk beverage that is made only for the festival, she said. The festival opened by placing a
single smear of red on each person’s forehead. Then, more colors were added ceremoniously, each participant hugging another in friendship, saying “Happy Holi,” as their faces gradually became multi-colored. A few games of tag were played with the color and the people who managed to stay relatively color-free won free tickets to the upcoming India Night. Soon, however, formal games were forgotten and colors flew freely. “By putting colors on everybody, See HOLI PAGe 3
VieTNAMeSe NigHT
Students celebrate culture at ‘VietNite’ Student wins raffle, trip to homeland BENNETT HALL Campus reporter
The Society of Vietnamese Students’ “VietNite” celebrated Vietnamese culture Saturday and put all event proceeds toward sending one raffle winner on an all-expenses-paid trip to Vietnam. Crowds gathered in Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Meacham Auditorium to watch a festival of songs, dances and fashion shows c e l eb rat i ng t ra d i t i o na l Vietnamese culture and then chow down on popular Vietnamese-French sandwiches, called “Bánh mì.” Vietnamese culture, particularly music, has many elements that seem to be representative of classic Chinese culture, petroleum engineering sophomore Ariel Octavianus said after the performances. At the end of the night, and after hundreds of raffle tickets had been sold to attendees, with some people even buying multiple tickets to raise their stakes, only one audience member left with fulfilled dreams of traveling to the country in southeast Asia. Her name is An Hoang,
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doNteRIo LIGoNS/tHe dAILy
Winner of the Vietnamese Night competition, An Hoang, biochemistry junior from Oklahoma City Community College, performs a traditional Vietnamese dance.
and for her, it will be a journey home. A biochemistry junior who is spending this semester at Oklahoma City Community College, Hoang grew up in southern Vietnam until the age of 15, when she moved with her parents to Oklahoma City and had her first American experiences
as a high school sophomore, she said. “It was difficult being here at first because I wasn’t very good at English yet,” Hoang said. Since then, Hoang has improved her English skills and become less shy, having made many friends through being active in many
different Asian student clubs on campus and participating in the school spirit that she loves about American collegiate culture, she said. But she misses her home country. It has been two years since she last returned to see many of her family and long-time close friends, most of whom live in Ho Chi Minh City, she said. “I’ve been wanting to return very much this year and was planning on going back whether I won the raffle or not,” Hoang said. For Hoang, the most exciting thing waiting for her back home is her family and friends, but she also yearns for the beauty of the country and the wonderful food, she said. “I do plan on visiting more of my country after seeing family and friends in Ho Chi Minh,” Hoang said. “My favorite day in Vietnam is just a normal day. I want to go out to eat as much as possible and visit beautiful sites with my old friends.” Hoang said she will be busy with classes this summer and plans to book her return home for this December, just in time for Christmas. Bennett Hall benhall@ou.edu
a complicated world that he doesn’t understand completely yet. Sevigny made the move AJINUR SETIWALDI to OU after Campus reporter working as a Ronald Sevigny left col- plumber for lege before he complet- a short time ed his freshman year. His but ultimategrades weren’t suffering. ly getting laid He didn’t miss home. He off due to the left because he had enlist- economy, he ed in the Army while he said. rONALD was in high school, and in “It was just SeVigNy 2004, during his freshman t h e e c o n o year in college, he was de- my,” Sevigny ployed to Iraq. said. “I got cut pretty quick.” He spent a year in active Losing that job made getduty there. As t i ng by d i f f i “I just didn’t an engineer cult, but it also in the Army, want to be a gave S e v ig ny he served in a the opportunity plumber the to think about unit of plumbers, electri- rest of my life. what he wanted cians and mado with his I had all that to sons near the life. Syrian border. time invested in “I just didn’t N o w , the military, so w a n t t o b e a Sevigny is plumber for the back in school I wanted to go rest of my life,” with a year’s back to school Sevigny said. worth of expe“I had all that and use my rience under time invested in his belt that the military, so benefits.” many stuI wanted to go roNALD sEViGNy, dents can’t back to school ENViroNmENTAL even imagand use my DEsiGN juNior ine and levbenefits.” el-headedBecause he ness one can get only after had attended college before, spending a year in combat. he enrolled as a transfer stuThe newfound patience dent, Sevigny said. There was helps him now as he tries to navigate OU’s campus,
See SEVIGNY PAGe 2
ArABiAN NigHT
Arabian culture celebrated with night of festivities Many countries were represented through the various activities held AJINUR SETIWALDI Campus reporter
Those who attended the 10th anniversary of the Arabian Cultural Night Saturday evening at Oklahoma Memorial Union got a taste of some of the food, fashion, music, dances, geography and politics of the Arab world. The Arab Student Association at OU organized the event, and the Saudi Students Association and Lebanese Student Association performed in the show, which was held to spread Arab culture at OU among the American and international students, said Kumail AlSaihati, Arab Student Association vice president and management information systems sophomore. The organization tries to represent as many countries from the Arab world as possible at the cultural night. The night features culture from Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria, but many of the other Arabian countries were represented, too, AlSaihati said. See ARAB PAGe 2
Sooners fall to Tennessee in OKC Sports: the ou women’s basketball team’s season came to an end Sunday when the Sooners lost to tennessee, 74-59. (Page 7)
Stompdown brings together students and history L&A: Kansas stomp team from Phi Beta Sigma takes home the Golden Boot this year. (Page 6)
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