Clubs share food, dance, more at first ever Culture Night

Photo: Two guest culture presenters serve kava, which is popular in Fiji.

By Lindsey Su,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Seven cultural and ethnic clubs set up booths at Culture Night on Mar. 7 in the All Student Center at Davis High. Each club brought food, games or artifacts that are a part of their culture.

The event opened with a lion dance performed by the Chinese Culture Club. Two dancers carried a multicolored lion and moved to drum music. The Chinese Culture Club also sold boba for $4 and allowed visitors to try their hands at Chinese calligraphy.

The Spanish Club sold pan dulce, Jarritos and guacamole with tortilla chips. Its goal was to earn at least $40 from Culture Night.

“We are going to use the money to sponsor people in a Latin American country, like penpals. Also, we have been working towards being able to get t-shirts for the club,” Spanish Club president Klara Underwood said.

Japanese Club also had plans for its money. Members sold a variety of Japanese foods, including inari, rice bowls and mochi so that they can plan mini trips for their club next year.

“The extra money also helps if we want to do other outside activities, or if we want to get t-shirts,” Japanese Club secretary Krystabelle Loor said.

Most clubs hoped that Culture Night would help them promote their clubs and attract members so that they can celebrate their culture with more people.

“Pretty much anyone that comes up to our booth will get to know what Black Student Union is all about, what it is that we actually do, and what fundraisers and stuff we have coming up,” said Elijah Smith, president of the Black Student Union.

In addition to the lion dance, there was a Fijian dance performance from a guest performer and music from a Spanish band.

Senior Maraia Tuqiri was head of the planning committee for Culture Night. Although this was the first year this event has happened, Tuqiri found it easy to plan.

“Reaching out to clubs and communicating was definitely hard, but we had a meeting with all the club supervisors, which made the whole thing run smoothly,” Tuqiri said.

The Japanese club brought out lots of trading cards for people to see.

The cultural fair gives people the opportunity to learn about many other people’s cultures.

The Japanese culture club gives people the chance to color and draw famous anime characters.

The Chinese club teaches fair-goers how to write calligraphy.

In many cultures food is a very important part of their culture.

Henna can be bought at the culture fair.

The BSU provided lots of antique statues from their culture.

The Chinese club did their famous dragon dance for the entire crowd to see.

(Photos: A. Dapkewicz)