Happy Tamil New Year to our QUB Tamil Society and those who celebrate it at Queen’s and elsewhere!
The Tamil Society is a newly ratified Society at Queen’s and they are eager to help a wider audience of students and staff members to get to know their unique culture. Hema from the Society has enthusiastically introduced the Tamil New Year celebration to us.
Tamil Society at the QUB Qulture Roadshow 2023. Image credit: Liang Wang
Tamil New Year, also known as Puthandu (“Puthu” – new; “Andu” – year), is celebrated by Tamils across the world. Falling around the 14th or 15th of April every year, it is a festival not just limited to the Indian subcontinent but is widely celebrated in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and more. It marks the beginning of the Tamil calendar year and is considered an auspicious occasion when we pay respect to our elders seeking their blessing to mark a new cycle for good fortune and prosperity. On the day, we use the greeting ‘Puthandu Nalvalthukal” which literally translates to “Happy New Year”. Homes are cleaned and preparations are made for the event on the previous day.
There is an important custom that is part of the traditional celebration which is “Kani”. This is where various items such as fruits, betel leaves, gold jewellery, money, flowers and a mirror are arranged on a tray in the prayer room. This is the first thing members of the household will look at when they wake up the next day so as to bring auspiciousness and prosperity for the new year.
Image credit: Hema
Traditionally, on New Year day priests in temple will prepare “Maruthu Neer” which is water that has been boiled with various fragrant herbs, flowers, and leaves. This water is then placed on heads of all family members during their bath. This ritual is believed to wash away all the negative energies from the previous year and bring in positive energy for the new one. After taking the bath, the New Year is celebrated by wearing new clothes, and particularly traditional Tamil clothes. The entrance of houses is decorated with mango leaves and kolams (made of powdered rice flour). We also offer prayers to God and our ancestors seeking blessings for a prosperous year ahead.
As with all festivals, food always plays an integral part in Tamil New Year. A hearty vegetarian feast is traditionally prepared, alongside a very important dish – Mangai Pachadi – a dish made with raw mango. This dish is believed to represent “Arusuvai” or a variety of tastes (e.g. sweet, astringent, sour, bitter and spicy) to represent a new year that should be filled with all tastes or flavors of life.
In a world that is so fast paced and impermanent, Tamil New Year is a time for new beginnings and hope. It is an occasion to forget the past and look forward to a brighter future. The traditions and customs associated with the festival not only bring joy and happiness but also foster unity and harmony amongst family and friends.
We would also like to send our best wishes to those who are celebrating their New Years (Bengali / Cambodian / Hindu / Lao / Myanmar / Nepali / Thai) on/around the same day.
You are welcome to write posts on your own cultures and contribute them to our celebrating Cultural Diversity at Queen’s for sharing.
Bonjour! Did you know today, the 20th March, is the UN French Language Day? Joyeuse journée de la langue Française !
On this special day, Manon Merle, a French student doing Politics at Queen’s School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, shared with us her experience of coming to study at Queen’s with her language exchange needs.
I am Manon, a French native speaker studying at Queen’s as an Erasmus student. And there are quite a few Erasmus students from France like me studying on campus! We are very eager to get to know you!
In my home university in France I study political science and am going to apply for a master in the ecological transition. I have decided to study abroad in Belfast mostly to improve my skills in English, to discover new people, a new city, a new culture and a new educational system. Many other French students have the same idea as I have, and we hope to contribute to Queen’s as a vibrant French-speaking community. As I hope this experience here to help me with my English, I recently signed up for the Tandem Language Exchange programme. So, I’ll be happy to promote my native language as well as to learn other languages from you!
To learn French (or the other languages) with us Language Centre, visit www.qub.ac.uk/lc (or scan the QR code) and sign up for the classes which will commence week beginning Monday 24 April 2023.
To find a language partner for language exchange, visit Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) programme. The coming TLE session is scheduled on Wed 22 March between 11:00 and 12:00 at the Training Room 2, McClay Library.
In the annual flagship of the Malaysian Students’ Society of Northern Ireland, we celebrated the joy of preparing and sharing Malaysian hawker-style food.
Photo credit: Xin Yi Beh
Foods and beverages reminiscent of our unique Malaysian childhood were served, including but not limited to teh ais (iced tea with condensed milk), homemade soya milk, nasi kandar (Northern Malaysian gravy and side dishes on steamed rice), Kuih (Malaysian bite-sized savory snacks and desserts) and many more.
It has been a great honor to encourage such togetherness by gathering a bunch of Malaysian food vendors and bringing our Malaysian students as one to enjoy the fruits of our hard work.
They say food is a universal language of love and we remain thankful to be able to deliver this message to our fellow Malaysian students and promote the Malaysian culture to those interested. This one is for the celebration of Malaysian food, the cultural essence of hawker-style cuisine, and the love we share as a society!
Photo credit: Xin Yi Beh
To find more about the M-Fest, click the link below:
Observed on the 21st February every year since 2000 it was created by UNESCO to address the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies.
The Language Centre at Queen’s is committed to promoting language learning and use in different contexts of education for a variety of purposes. We also value the richness of languages and cultures brought in by staff and students to Queen’s as the main part of the assets of our multicultural campus. We believe that linguistic diversity is a key feature of university campus life, and part of our Equality Policy.
To celebrate the International Mother Language Day we would like to invite you to join us in our Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) programme, via which you may find language partners to swap with each other’s native language in a mutually supportive and respectful way.
For more details and registration information, please check the TLE page or scan the QR code below for a quick access. The coming TLE session is scheduled on Wednesday 22nd February 2023.
The World Arabic Language Day is celebrated every year on 18 December and this year it’s falling on a Sunday. Since 2012 it has been created to mark the day in 1973 that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Arabic as the sixth official language of the Organization
About the Arabic Language Day
‘Since its very first celebration in 2012, each year on 18 December UNESCO commemorates World Arabic Language Day, highlighting Arabic’s legacy and immense contribution to humanity.’
‘A pillar of humanity’s shared values, Arabic is a language that brings together people from various cultural, ethnical, religious and social backgrounds. ‘
We would like to invite you to join us in its celebration as part of our Celebrating Cultural Diversity at Queen’s, and don’t forget to say “Happy World Arabic Language Day” to who are speakers of Arabic language and who are learning to speak the language.
If you are considering doing an Arabic language course, you are very welcome to sign up for one of our Arabic courses from beginner to intermediate levels starting in January 2023. For more information and registration, please visit www.qub.ac.uk/lc or scan the QR code on the image.
‘I see it coming – the excitement starts to build up not only in my body, but in my family, in my whole nation, among my people, whether they live or not, in Mexico... The Day of the Dead is expected with illusion everywhere and this festivity is a distinctive feature of our culture.‘
– Ingrid Briano (QUB alumna)
For many of us, the most special period (between the last day of October until the second of November) of the year, when the smells of mandarins and cempazuchitl flowers float in the air preparing the way to receive our ancestors, it is the time of festive peace, of joyful nostalgic that is hard to understand for many foreigners who are equally fascinated and confused when they are in the boiling atmosphere of the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead.
Death is perceived in a very particular way in my country since the pre-Hispanic times, and this is especially shocking for cultures for whom the concept of the death is fearful, dark, painful. For our ancestors like the Mayas and Aztecs, death was in synchrony with life.
Death was needed to sustain life, human blood and sacrifices were needed so their Gods could continue blessing humans with life, crops, prosperity… death was only a stage in the cycle of life.
This is a time for family bonding and gathering, we get together to celebrate the lives of our ancestors, to be grateful for their legacy and to honour their memories. At home, this is one of the few times of the year when all my family sits around the table, sometimes the door rings and suddenly we have uncles, aunties and cousins showing up to eat “un panecito”. This is also a time to discover things about our family, like the time I knew that my great grandparents had to get married in a cave because during that time the government closed the churches and prosecuted priests and Catholics.
If we keep talking about the essential components of this celebration, we cannot forget the “altar de Muertos”, present equally at home, in public buildings and plazas, or in schools, where since we were kids we made them to join in contests against other groups. The altar must contain some elements, like water, salt, the orange cempazuchilt flowers distinctive of this festivity, the portraits of our beloved ones who already departed, their favourite food, and candles to guide them, to show them the way home.
Altar de Muertos
The altar and the elements may vary depending on the region and group. Some indigenous communities put their favourite saints instead of the portraits of their relatives, and in many families we include an arch of flowers that some believe, symbolizes the division between the world of the death and the alive, a species of portal between the two worlds. Because for a couple of days they are among us, they come to taste the food we prepared for them, they come to comfort us for the pain of their loss. It is said that if you try the food later, you won’t find any taste because your hungry relatives already “ate” it.
Although it often takes a few days to design it – buying all the elements and preparing the food – it is a moment of unity not only with the family, but with the community. I always buy the flowers to a man who knows much of my deceased relatives, and I always pull a story out of him of one of my relatives, because “once he saw my abuelito when he was buying some cows bla bla bla….”.
Furthermore, millions of people dress up as the icon of this festivity: the “Catrina”, the fashioned – bony creation of Mexican lithographer Jose Guadalupe Posada, who used to portray skulls and skeletons in his illustrations to protest and criticize the Mexican society of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These dancing and colourful skeletons invade the streets during the parades held in cities and towns along the country.
And also, you can find the minion version knocking at your door, screaming “el muertito, el muertito” and demanding treats in our Mexican version of trick or treat. This tradition has been changing and getting stronger during the last decades, taking some distance from the similar Halloween, to become a very proud and intrinsic Mexican tradition. You will see fewer and fewer witches, zombies, mummies, and pumpkins, and more and more catrinas and catrines, and characters of the Mexican popular culture like “el chavo del ocho”, Cantinflas or heroes of the Mexican revolution returned from the underworld with a beautiful childish face and some creepy scar and blood on the forehead. I especially wait for this moment, because the kids know that my mom is always prepared with bags and bags of sweets to receive them. When they knock, they are always welcome by an Ingrid – Catrina who gives them sweets, and well, she keeps some to herself, because that day she turns into a little girl herself.
And what about the cemeteries? You would be surprised… don’t expect a chorus of cries and rivers of tears… but to see people cleaning the graves, painting and decorating them, putting fresh flowers and even new toys for a child grave. Pay attention to the families having picnics and laughing around the graves, listen to the mariachis playing ranchera (a genre of traditional music of Mexico) and singing with all their heart… join the party, and above all, don’t be sad. Join our most beautiful tradition, join us to welcome our beloved ones because they never left; join us to celebrate their lives instead of feeling sorry for their passing because they only die when we forget them, and that will never happen, as they will always be alive in our hearts and memory, and they are always loved.
Feliz dia de Muertos!!
About the author
Ingrid Briano Jasso
Ingrid, from Mexico, obtained her MSc in Leadership for Sustainable Development at Queen’s in 2018.
Happy Diwali to all who celebrate it at Queen’s and elsewhere!
Diwali (Deepavali or Divali), also known as the Festival of Lights, is a Hindu religious festival and one of the most important festivals within Hinduism. Falling on 24th October this year, it generally lasts five days, and is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika.
“Hindus, Sikhs and Jains both in India and across the world usually take part by decorating houses and public spaces with thousands of lights, candles and colourful designs. As well as the bright colours and glittering lights, there’s music, dancing, delicious food and a cresting wave of community feeling.”
Nimmy john Lecturer, School of Nursing & midwifery; co-chair of bame & International staff network
Thanks to the Graduate School’s organisation, on Monday 24th October Queen’s students and staff have joined in the celebration of Diwali at the 1st Floor Social Space of the grand ‘Ruskinesque’ Gothic building, with a taste of Indian tea and sweets.
‘Happy Diwali!’ is the most common festival greeting that people use to send their best wishes to each other.
Did you know that there are approximately 72 million deaf people in the global population? These people collectively use over 300 different sign languages! Alongside all the national languages, there is a shared international sign language used by the deaf community to communicate socially, on trips abroad, and in international business settings.
This International Day of Sign Languages, celebrated on 23rd September each year, to coincide with the creation of the World Federation of the Deaf in 1951, sits within International Week of Deaf People (19th-25th September 2022). The theme for this year is Building Inclusive Communities for All. Learning basic communication in sign language, whether national or international, can really help to make the global community of deaf people feel more included in society. As actress Rose Ayling-Ellis so aptly puts it, “There’s nothing wrong with being deaf – it’s society that’s the problem”.
The Language Centre offers British Sign Language courses in Levels 1 and 2 and registration for these is open now, via our website: www.qub.ac.uk/lc
We would like to invite our staff members and students to join in the celebration of the Africa Day and celebrate their cultures, heritage and achievements.
Africa Day commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (now known as the African Union) on this day, 25 May, in 1963. Formally known as African freedom day and then African Liberation day, its origin lies in the collective African resistance to colonialism and economic exploitation. The day was, and is, intended to highlight Africa’s continued collective struggle against adversity.
The African Union today strives to represent a vibrant continent of 1.2 Billion people. Today is a day to celebrate how far Africa has come against the odds and to recognise how much more needs to be done to ensure that all Africans can live healthy, happy lives.
The Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network, in collaboration with the Language Centre, would like to invite you to join us in celebrating this year’s World Day for Cultural Diversity!
‘To protect and promote cultural diversity and expressions, I draw my inspiration from best practices in the development of appropriate responses adapted to university contexts. iRise is intended to be a collaborative and evolving instrument by sharing information that will contribute to a better understanding of diversity and conducive to keeping alive this dynamic platform.’ (Dr Adone Mohd-Sarip)
‘In a world increasingly globalised through corporate interests but fragmented by war and lack of empathy, it is imperative that we foster cultural diversity in our communities, networks and institutions. This is the only way we can achieve understanding and peace. I very much hope that QUB will wake up to this through the agency of iRise.’ (Dr Daniel Roberts)
‘Too often, global conflicts have a cultural dimension, and bridging the gap between cultures and peoples through intercultural dialogue is needed more than ever in our multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual world. Being a co-chair of QUB iRISE, I am committed to fostering the value of compassion, inclusion, and respect for others. Every effort from each of us constitutes one step further toward embracing diversity.’ (Mrs. Nimmy John)
‘Cultural diversity is a great starting point to recognise the rich, yet complex, societies of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As a Language Support Officer at Queen’s, I am committed to helping students and staff members primarily enhance their linguistic and intercultural awareness and sensitivity through the means of workshops, training sessions and cultural celebrations. Together, we can aim for mutual respect, equality and inclusivity. (Dr Liang Wang)
Cultural Diversity Survey
In addition, we would also like to invite you to contribute to our Cultural Diversity Survey by filling in the form so that we can better plan for the various cultural festivals and special days.
