
This month’s Global Sips, hosted by the Office of International Services and Study Abroad, honored Thai culture.
The event Wednesday in the Ludwick Center celebrated the Yi Peng Lantern Festival, a Buddhist festival celebrated in Thailand in November, which involves the release of lanterns – as a symbolic release of worries – into the night sky.
The event featured Thai teas and snacks, and a lantern-making activity.
About 10 students attending also enjoyed coconut rolls and Pocky sticks.
“Learning how other cultures (celebrate) their holidays, allows us to understand different cultures around the world,” said Sol Benjamin, freshman kinesiology major.
Guests enjoyed making lanterns out of boxes, colored paper, glue sticks and candles.
“Knowing… the Yi Peng Festival in Thailand meant letting go of your troubles and finding peace really made me interested in wanting to make them (again) in the future,” said Destiny Tenor, junior political science major.
Pavenuch Boonchay, a graduate student in business administration, who is from Thailand was happy to partake as well.
“It was nice to see it here on campus because there’s not a lot of events around here about Thailand,” Boonchay said.
“We can learn about people by their cultures …from these types of events,” Boonchay said.
—Kalayah Frazier