12/17/2024
Celebrating International Students Day with music, food, poetry and stories, BRCC brought the Rec Center alive with energy! Students, faculty and staff joined to learn more about the cultures of some of the College’s international students.
“We have students from many different countries and our goal was to recognize and appreciate these students,” said BRCC Student Activities Director, Claire Richardson. She added, “We also wanted to encourage students to meet new people and stay respectfully curious about cultures that are different from their own.”
Several students choose to wear traditional clothing, and explained the importance of their attire to others. Giovana Munoz, a cybersecurity student, wore a special dress for the occasion. “The dress I wore was very special to me. A traditional Chiapas state dress inspired by the Chiapa de Corzo region. Mexico has 32 states, and each estate has a gala dress representing each estate. I chose it because I wanted to celebrate and represent my heritage meaningfully.”
Anjila Tarshi, explained her attire for the day, “I wore my traditional Afghan dress, which is highly regarded in Afghanistan, with the sleeves and collar beautifully crafted by hand. Afghan dresses are often brightly colored, and the vibrancy of these garments carries deep cultural, historical, and regional significance. The colorful nature of Afghan dresses reflects both the diversity and the rich traditions of Afghanistan’s various ethnic groups.” Additionally, Anjila and several of her friends also from Afghanistan, shared a poem with the audience. “The poetry reading was especially meaningful to me. It was an honor to share a poem with my friend for the first time.”
Other readings included bilingual poetry in Persian, Nepalese and Japanese. There were also international artifacts on display. Ronnie Brandon, aka Iron Lion, donated his time and talent deejaying the event, and the music was an important element of the celebration.
The smell of the amazing food brought folks to the Student Activities room in droves! Delicious dishes from several local international restaurants were a hit, and some items were completely new to those in attendance. Food was purchased from Mashita, El Milagro, Taste of India, Babylon and Island Wheels (food truck). The entire event was sponsored by BRCC Student Activities and the BRCC Cultural Affairs Committee.
“It was great seeing so many students in traditional clothing, sharing about their culture and countries, and so many students listening intently, asking questions after,” said Claire.
“What I liked the most was having a space where I could see the nostalgia and love for our countries of origin in the stories of our international classmates. It was an opportunity to learn about other cultures and reconnect with my feelings and experiences as an immigrant,” added Giovana.
The Chiapas dress is a traditional garment from the city of Chiapa de Corzo. It is often recognized as the typical dress of Chiapas, although this Mexican state has a rich diversity of traditional attire. The dress consists of a satin blouse with a semicircular neckline. It features a layer of tulle with hand-embroidered flowers using colorful silk threads in the petatillo technique. The embroidery is done on a tulle fabric. First, the design is drawn on cardboard or paper, which is then attached to the tulle to guide the embroidery. The outline is stitched to create a shadow effect, and then flowers are embroidered. Completing the entire dress can take up to eight and a half months. In 2022, it cost around 15,000 Mexican pesos, approximately 750 U.S. dollars. The skirt is also satin, long, and wide, with five layers of tulle and lace. Each layer or strip is about 2 meters long and 25 cm wide, and embroidering a single strip can take two weeks or more, depending on the complexity of the design. Each dress uses around 18 meters of embroidered fabric strips, giving it its fullness and volume. These embroidered Chiapaneca dresses are often worn for gala events, weddings, quinceañeras, and other celebrations. Even today, the Chiapas dress is viewed in the fashion world as an internationally renowned piece due to its beauty and elegance.