Merging cultures

The campus community is invited to attend the second annual Asian Spring Festival with activities, including writing names in a different language, a Chinese fashion show and a dragon dance.

The festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday in the University Ballroom on the Edinburg campus and 2 to 5 p.m. April 20 in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus.

“Our goal is to continue to add our little part of the Korean culture into the Asian festival,” said Paulina Perez, a junior nursing student and Korean Language and Culture Association member. “We are going to have food samples. We are going to have a photo booth and information about Korean culture.”

The KLCA has been learning about the language and culture and will prepare tteokbokki, or 雇犖檜, which is a Korean spicy rice cake.

“It is going to be all inclusive,” Perez said. “We are hoping to make an event where all students of all backgrounds can come learn about Asian cultures.”

Perez said several underrepresented cultures’ organizations will be at the festival, including the Muslim Students’ Association, the Indian Association of Rio Grande Valley and the Filipino Student Association. Other organizations such as the Chinese Language and Culture Association (CLCA) will also attend.

“We are going to be doing a traditional dance … an umbrella dance,” said Sheila Moncayo, an English senior and CLCA member. “We are going to do a fashion show as well. … We are also going to have the chopsticks game.”

Moncayo said the fashion show will have both modern and traditional outfits. The chopsticks game will consist of transferring either Skittles or jelly beans from one bowl to another.

This year’s event was organized by Mijin Oh-Villarreal and Xin Zhang, who are both lecturers at UTRGV.

The organizers said they hope the campus community will be excited to learn more about Asian cultures.

“I felt the same excitement when I saw the other cultures,” Oh-Villarreal said.

Oh-Villarreal said the Rio Grande Valley has a strong Hispanic culture.

“When I go … [out], people say, ‘Mira china.’ … People only recognize Chinese [culture], ” she said.

The lecturer also said people do not recognize South Korean culture or products originating from there, which include LG and Samsung phones.

Students will also have the opportunity to have words or their name written in Chinese calligraphy.

“Most students want to get the name [written]. They ask us to write with the brush, with rice paper,” Zhang said.

The campus community may also have their name written in Hangul, the Korean alphabet.

A Chinese dragon dance will be performed again at the university. The dance was last performed by UTRGV students for FESTIBA and requires at least 10 people and a large area to move around.

For more information, contact Oh-Villarreal at mijin.ohvillareal@utrgv.edu or Zhang at xin.zhang@utrgv.edu.