By Glen Ess (The Cascade) – Email
Springtime isn’t just an opportunity to rest and relax, free from the stress of a hectic school-time schedule. The springtime also serves as the beginning of the Punjabi calendar and is heralded by the harvest festival Vaisakhi. Traditionally held in mid-April, this past Friday saw one of UFV’s newest clubs, the South Asian club (SAC), host a Vaisakhi celebration in the SUB.
Rahul Kumar, a first year student and one of the organizers of the celebration, says that the SAC decided to hold the event a month later than usual. “[Vaisakhi] is usually celebrated on the fourteenth of April, but we didn’t celebrate earlier because of exams,” he said. “But we have the time now, so that’s why we’re doing this.”
The event featured dancing, food, and music provided by DJ Decibel.
“We booked a really good DJ, he’s considered the best here in B.C.,” Kumar says, adding that this was one of the reasons the club was predicting a large turnout.
“We’re hoping to see a lot of people, we’ve had a lot of guests outside of UFV students say they were interested. A lot of the South Asian community.”
The event itself saw DJ Decibel’s equipment shaking the SUB’s foundations, a colourful light show, and a strange, yet heady mix of traditional music and dancing with contemporary flourishes.
Impressively, the event was the first organized by the newly formed SAC.
“We’re a very new club and it’s quite a big responsibility as the first event,” Kumar says. However, despite the weight of responsibility, Kumar was confident that the club would grow quite fast, stating that they were already planning more events, such as dinners, movie nights, and a food festival.
It’s expected that the SAC, which promotes cultures from all across South Asia, will collaborate with other student groups with similar interests, such as UFV India and the Punjabi student club. With several students belonging to multiple clubs with significant overlap, future events may feature more partnerships between clubs, leading to larger numbers of guests attending such events.
Kumar believes that Vaisakhi will be just the beginning for the SAC.
“It’s a big responsibility,” he says, “but with the support of UFV, and all of our club members, I think we’re going to make it.”
