Despite the bitter wind howling at the front doors last Wednesday, the Student Union was filled with holiday warmth and music.
Enthusiasm for the upcoming vacation filled the air along with scents of the season as students crowded around activity tables.
The Festival of Traditions, sponsored by the Student Activities and Team UB, offered a welcoming taste of the variety of holidays and traditions celebrated at this time of year.
Co-organizer Kate Schrum, a graduate student in the Student Affairs administration program was pleased with how the festival turned out.
"We have so much to offer here," Schrum said. "It's a great opportunity for students to learn about different holidays."
Sarah Barnes, a graduate assistant in student activities and English education major, said that she could not have agreed more.
"It's even better than last year, we have new activities and more holidays represented," she said.
Among the activities were cookie decorating, bag decorating, Menorah making and a table where students could decorate Christmas stockings to be donated to the elderly at local nursing homes.
"We were just walking by and decided to join in on the fun," said Jen Mihok, freshman mathematics major. Mihok was at the Holiday Bag Making table, where students decorated an assortment of beautifully colored gift bags with sequins, stencils and glitter to fill with gifts for their loved ones.
At another table, students waiting in line crowded around the Smelly Jelly Jar-Making activity, which offered scented, gooey potpourri. Aromas such as firewood, berries and Christmas cookies could be mixed into the jelly to fill a room with the scent of the holidays.
Many students enjoyed this idea, seeing as scented candles are not allowed inside the residence halls, and the smells were comforting.
Among the different holidays represented were Christmas, Hanukkah, and even the Seinfeld-inspired "Festivus."
In the Hillel-sponsored Hanukkah section, tradition met fun filled activities such as Menorah-making and a table that showed students how to make edible dreidels.
Noa Goldberg, a graduate student from Canisius College, was on hand to help the students make their Menorahs and explain the Dreidel Game.
As more and more students began filtering into the party, all seemed to appreciate not only the holiday candor, but the diversity of the festival as well. Greg Coogan, Campus Minister for the Neuman Center, was invited to the event to represent Christmas.
"I think it's exciting to see the diversity of a large university like this," he said. "It's fun! Its fun and it's a neat way to learn about different traditions that follow the winter solstice."
After taking a bite of the featured yule log cake that was centered in the middle of the party, students had an opportunity to talk to the big man himself: Santa Claus. On a quick afternoon leave from the North Pole, Santa was swift to test the cookies and taste the hot chocolate before he had to leave again.
"It's a great time for everyone! I made a smelly jelly jar and a bag for Mrs. Claus," he exclaimed. "I love it here at UB, it's my favorite place!"
