HPU’s 25th Annual Intercultural
Day drew 22 international clubs and thousands of students,
staff, and community supporters to an April 17 program and
parade.
The event was coordinated by Ann Newton, director of International student services,
and Karen Mikel, International student advisor, as well as the Council of Countries,
headed by Daniyal Saud, a junior, double majoring in international studies and
biochemistry.
Booths representing students’ different countries lined both sides of Fort
Street Mall from Beretania Street to Chaplain Lane, some with food for people
to try and others with games.
“
Today we’re helping everyone taste a bit of Latin America,” said
Ingrid Calderon, a senior business major and president of Latinos Unidos.
The Latin American booth featured traditional music and gave people the opportunity
to paint their own maracas, which the club bought with member donations and had
shipped to Hawai‘i for the event.
The Marine Science Club’s theme was the islands of Greece, with a model
volcano and students wearing togas. A touch tank held sea cucumbers and hermit
crabs for people to touch.
“
It’s an island close to marine science,” said Natalie Kulick, a sophomore
marine biology major who mentioned that they had wanted to do a booth on Atlantis
but were told to recreate a real place.
“
Usually science clubs do not participate [in Intercultural Day],”Kulick
added, “but we wanted to be the first science club to participate in events
on both the downtown campus and the Hawai‘i Loa campus.”
The China booth featured a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony and distributed
information about their culture. There was even someone in a panda costume ready
to take pictures with passersby. Anyone who stopped at the booth was greeted
in Chinese.
The Malaysian students hung posters celebrating the 50th year of nationhood for
their country and dressed in traditional clothing.
The Saudi Arabian booth allowed people to try on clothing from the country and
have their picture taken dressed in the costumes. People posed with swords and
women were given a teapot to pretend to pour tea for others. Before they left,
their names were written out for them in Arabic that they could take home.
“
[We participated] because Saudi culture is a new culture to Hawai‘i; we’ve
been here two years, and we want everyone to see what we have,” said Husain
Almansour a third-year master’s student in information systems. “So
far people love it and are taking pictures,” he said of his booth.
Students from Singapore set up a pasarmalam, or a night market, for their booth,
along with a game of hopscotch.
All of the participants gathered together for a group photo in the courtyard
area on Fort Street Mall before beginning the parade that led them down King,
Bishop, and Beretania streets then returned to Fort Street Mall.
The climax of the event was when students gathered onstage to demonstrate song,
dance, music, costumes, and practices representing their culture.
China won first place in both the booth and performance categories. Students
demonstrated three specific areas of Chinese history including: the Silk Road,
tai chi and kung fu.
Norway came in second for performance with music, polka, Scottish, and a traditional
folk dance called Gangar—or The Walker.
“
I was a little bit nervous before I got on stage,” said Ida Killengberg,
a second-year business administration master’s student who played the accordian
for the performance. “I’ve played for 15 years but always get a little
nervous. It was also a lot of fun,” said Killengberg.
Taiwan earned third place for their performance of an aboriginal dance from the
a-Mei tribe; a tribal song by a famous Taiwanese a-Mei singer was used as background
music.
Maylasia and Saudi Arabia took second and third place, respectively in the booth
contest.
