Union’s World Around U club, an organization that supports international students on campus, hosted Pangea, an event that featured food, activities, performances, and opportunities for students to learn about other cultures. Approximately 10% of Union’s incoming classes consist of international students, and they come from 48 countries. At the event, students were able to walk around, and do activities such as decorating masks.
Julia “Jules” Squissato ‘26, who is from Brazil and ran a table where students could decorate masks, said “when I was in elementary school, we would wear these masks and go to parades and parties,” Squissato also discussed the cultural significance of these masks: the “masks are actually supposed to represent different indigenous cultures. Each of them have different colors and feathers, and each of those feathers represent one of [Brazil’s] indigenous cultures,” they said. “Carnival is a holiday in Brazil, where these people who have been silenced during all those centuries feel heard and show their cultures to other people.”
Students were also able to draw on fans at a table run by Daeun Jun ‘26, who is from Korea. “It’s a traditional hand fan where people used it when they didn’t have an electronic fan before. So yeah, I’m letting people draw or write in the Korean language, which is called hangugeo,” she said.
Students were also able to learn about religions; Union’s Muslim Student Association had a table, and showed students a prayer mat (pronounced sajjadat as-salat in Arabic), prayer beads (called Misbaha, Tasbih or Sibha), and a painting created by a member of the club that says “remembrance to God” in English.
“It’s something that we pray on top of five times a day during different time periods of praying throughout the day,” Azir Nawaz ‘24 said about the prayer mat. “Basically what we do with this is for each bead we say our remembrance for God” when explaining the prayer beads.
The event also featured singing performances and a dance performance by Bhangra Union, Union’s Bhangra dance team. Bhangra is “a dance form that originates from Northern India and it’s used to celebrate and signify happiness and togetherness,” Trisha Agrawal, ‘23, who is from India and the captain of the dance team, said.
Students were also able to learn about cultures in France, Africa, Taiwan, and other countries at tables around the event. Sushi, Brazilian Limeade, and other foods were also The Bhangra Union performs at the event in front of the Library.served at the event.