Colourful sarees, delicious food, Indian rhythms, and lots of dancing!
These are only a few things you could experience at Student Union the Hub this week.
Teesside University is a culturally diverse place where you have plenty of opportunities to familiarize yourself with various lifestyles.
Teesside University’s Indian Society used the University’s Student’s Union to host its annual Navaratri festival and over 800 people attended
Among over 20 societies such as Christian society, brand new Pakistani Society, Nigerian society, there is a large and well-established community at Teesside University Indian Society.
The society organized numerous events in the past, such as Diwali, Holi Festival, and many more.
It is known for its colourful, welcoming events and inviting people from different cultures and backgrounds to join the parties and explore Indian heritage.
Navaratri, one of the Hindu festivals, is celebrated every year in Autumn.
The festival lasts nine nights and ten days.
It is broadly celebrated across India where every region has a certain way of honouring it.
Celebrations include worshipping nine goddesses in nine days.
There are stage decorations, reading of the legend, enacting of the story, and chanting of the scriptures of Hinduism.
The event involves a lot of traditional and folk dancing, and in some cases, Hindu believers are fasting.
On the final day of celebrations, the statue symbolizing evil is either immersed in a river or ocean, or it is burnt with fireworks to mark the good winning over the evil.
Navaratri is one of the biggest festivals celebrated in India.
Certainly, it could not be missed this year at Teesside University.
The Indian Society once again proves its excellent organization skills and sense of community by bringing together nearly 800 hundred people!
The Durga Puja took place in Student Union the Hub on Wednesday.
The event started at 5pm and lasted for eight hours.
Students as well as families with children wore vibrant clothes and danced to traditional sounds of Indian music.
Society prepared a beautiful altar on the stage.
You need to have a lot of energy to dance all night.
There is nothing better than freshly made, hot curry. The attendees could enjoy tasty food served at the event.
Despite the event being a Hindu festival, students from Africa and Europe came along to enjoy the party and share the experience with the Indian community.
The event welcomed people from a wide age range, divergent backgrounds and religions.
A festival- goer said: “I was very happy to be a part of such an amazing festival.”
“I came along with my friends and stayed for the whole night.
“It was amazing to see so many Indian people be together, share food, and dance.
“I chose Teesside because there is a large Indian community here and thanks to such events it almost feels like I never left home. ”
Another festival-goer said: “It is really heart warming to see our people together in one place, enjoying the moment and celebrating Navaratri.”
“I’m happy I could bring my family to the event, it is very important to me that my children know the traditions and actively take part in it.
“Thank you Indian Society for making that possible.”
Look out for the next events as Diwali is on the way!
