By Sara Mirza
The atmosphere of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was vibrant in excitement and color with young children running around in native shalwar kameez with the occasional jingling of the young girls’ anklets as they scattered across at The Great Hall Balcony. The Metropolitan Museum of Art had a celebration of the festival of lights, which is known as Diwali.
Diwali is the celebration of light over darkness and the virtue of good over evil. Celebrators of Diwali tend to light lamps in their homes hoping that the Hindu Goddess of good fortune and luck Lakshmi, brings blessings into their households. The admission into the museum was based on how much a person would like to donate to enhance the museum. College students should definitely show their college ID for a better deal.
The mixture of the crowds was truly aspiring to see on how a festival can bring many exceptional cultures in one room. The family friendly event aimed for educating and celebrating a flourishing and colorful festival with several activities. From booths of having henna designs applied to a gallery hunt to learn about South Asian culture were just a few of the activities the museum had in mind. Dance is language that everyone can express and The Nartan Rang Dance Academy of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan conducted several young gifted girls who performed folk dances showing the beauty and art of traditional dances. The girls’ persuaded the audience to participate and show off a few Bollywood moves infusing the magnificent mixture of both eastern and western worlds. The gallery hunt consisted of the Asian exhibition was made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund resulting all different types of ages to explore the museum and learn more about the intertwinement of other cultures with the fusion of Indian culture.
Overall, the enjoyment and pulsating energy was clearly seen across the hall, and truly did make a piece of history that others will remember and hopefully bring out more cultures in doing exciting activities as well.
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