The UMD International Club hosted their 55th annual Feast of Nations
The International Club at UMD is the oldest club in the Multicultural Center, having been around since 1967. For 55 years they have presented Feast of Nations. “This event is to bring celebration to different cultures,” Eva Moua, co-president of International Club, said.
Lisa Xiong and Dominick Turoski enjoy the feast. Turoski is trying the avocado toast. Photo by Chloe Farnsworth.
Feast of Nations is a significant event to Moua because it is a place to celebrate and allow the community to see what International Club does at UMD. It is also important to Moua that the community learns more about different cultures and becomes more aware.
The International Club Executive Board members are Eva Moua, co-president; Selam Anteneh, co-president; Bereket Lajebo, event coordinator; Shreya Chennupati, social media/public relations; and Muhammad Ali, treasurer. Without these people, Feast of Nations wouldn’t have even happened.
This year, the feast was held on February 25. The night included a dinner and other fun, culturally inclusive events such as a fashion show.
Fatima Rashida Jumala (left) represented Philippines in the fashion show. Alison Olson-Enamorado (middle) and Muhammad Hizbullah (right) both represented Guatemala. Photo by Chloe Farnsworth
“Within each culture, you represent yourself in different ways,” Moua said. “And I feel with the fashion show, every culture has a certain type of clothing that they wear traditionally and so the fashion show is to allow UMD students to show off where they came from, what their culture is and how it looks visually.”
In addition, there was also a group of performances ranging from spoken word to dance. The performances included a Flamenco professional dance group, spoken word, solo dance, saxophone solo, singing and the BSA Dance Team.
The Flamenco professional dance group entertains the audience with a flamenco style dance. Photo by Bee Enders.
As for the performances, all UMD students were welcome to show their talents. “It’s kind of like volunteering, if they wanted to showcase what talents they have, they could,” Moua said. But every year the club also includes a few paid, professional performers. This year those included a Flamenco dance group and singer Mahzabin Khan.
The theme for Feast of Nations this year was “A walk through time;” inspired by some old photos that were found. “This year we actually found a box of old photos that go back to the 1970s and it's crazy how they kept track of all those photos throughout the years,” Moua said. “We kind of wanted to use those photos and to remember how long International Club has been around and to just remember those who created this space for us.”
Feast of Nations sold out this year with over 200 people, including volunteers. “Overall, it went better than I thought it could and everything just turned out really great,” Moua said.