As the snow began to fall Wednesday night, South Campus was filled with the sights, sounds and tastes of the holiday season. The first annual UB Holiday Carnival kicked off in Harriman Hall to the university's string ensemble and holiday food.
Sponsored by the Residential Life Diversity Awareness Committee, the carnival was held to honor holidays from several different cultures celebrated at this time of year.
Peter Smith, event creator and assistant director of South Campus Residential Life, said that he was pleased with the turnout and the diversity of the event.
Smith said that he had the idea for the event while planning a Christmas party in another university's residence halls for students and faculty to give professors a chance to see the dorms. After adding some last-minute Hanukkah decorations, Smith was thanked by several students for representing the Jewish culture at the event.
"That really struck me," Smith said. "Over the course of the next year I processed that experience.... I re-created the program, only this time the focus wasn't to get the faculty to come out, it was to promote the different holidays."
In the course of a few short years, Smith took the program to the Rochester Institute of Technology where the program continues to grow each year - he hopes to bring the same enthusiasm to UB.
"We have activities here for kids - a Boxing Day celebration, which is a community service holiday, and live music."
There was the traditional Christmas table filled with red and green cookies, as well as a Hanukkah table, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, St. Nick's Day and Kings Day tables. Each table was manned by a member of the Diversity Committee who gladly shared the customs of and story behind the holiday they were there to represent.
At the Kwanzaa table, chicken and corn bread were among other tasty treats along with pamphlets on the history of the weeklong secular celebration of the ancestors of African-Americans' culture and history.
"I have celebrated Kwanzaa and Christmas, and a lot of people don't know that it's not a spiritual holiday, but rather a tribute to our ancestors and their life," said Shequanda Watson, a sophomore majoring in English literature.
At another table, Colleen Toomey, a residential educational assistant and member of the Diversity Awareness Committee, had posters and handouts on World Aids Day, which was held this Dec. 1. Toomey also helped to organize the event.
"We are excited that so many different groups came out," Toomey said. "We were really excited to get some live music and cool submissions."
Other students, like junior interdisciplinary social sciences major Carla Robinson, were excited for the festivities as well.
"This is so fun," Robinson said. "I am having a wonderful time."
