Malaysian culture celebrated

There was a performance in Atwood Ballroom which presented the culture of Malaysia Saturday night.

This year, the theme was “Malaysiaku Gemilang” which means “My Malaysia will become better.”

Malaysia is a diversified country that is composed of three main groups: Indian, Chinese and Malay.

The event aimed at trying to show the culture and customs of these groups.

Celebrating the Indian traditional festival Diwali or Deepavali, which means “festival of light” was one of the bright moments of the event.

The Indian people light diyas, cotton string wicks inserted in small clay pots filled with oil to signify victory of good over the evil within an individual.

At the beginning of the event, President Earl H. Potter, advisors of Malaysian Student Association (MSA) and  MSA president Yong Heng Lee lit the diyas together to celebrate the festival.

The performance started with a fashion show, which showed the costumes of Chinese, Indian and Malay.

The fashion show was followed by a  traditional Indian dance.

After having the dinner, the bamboo dance, which is usually played by native residence in Malaysia, engaged and energized the audience.

Five volunteers were invited to go to the stage to play with the performers.

The 24 season drum performance was the last of the evening. The 24 season drum represents the 24 seasons of the lunar calendar. It was originated from Malaysia.

The MSA 24 seasons drum performance is significantly different each time they perform. This time they had on plain, identical white masks on for a part of their performance.

“I really liked the event. It showed the culture of Malaysian people and it was really enjoyable. The way they structured everything, especially the occasion coincided with the Indian festival of Diwali. They put the idea into the decoration. It was very beautiful to see that,” SCSU undergraduate student Patricia Ezepue said.

“I learned a lot about Malaysia. I always have the curiosity about the Malaysia. It is diversified. It’s small but beautiful,” SCSU graduate student Satakarni Bommuluri said.

“The food is tasty. Every part of the performance has its own features.”

“For this whole night, our committees spent a lot of time on it. Most of our committees are new, but they did a good job. I really thanks them,” Lee said.