Both of Ball State's Uzbekistanis spent Thursday night dressed in colorful, jeweled traditional garb, teaching students about their native country and celebrating the Persian New Year.
They were joined by students from Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries, who gathered to share cultural traditions and celebrate the holiday Navruz in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Ballroom.
"We would like to introduce people and make them more familiar with our culture and traditions," freshman Nigorabonu Miliyeva, who came to the U.S. in August 2011, said. "Many people have been coming and asking questions, but ... sometimes people don't know where Uzbekistan is."
The event featured several tables where attendees could learn about cultures of countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as a stage, speakers and a dance floor where participants could learn new styles of dance or dance as they would in their home country.
Event organizer Farangis Nozimzoda, a junior finance major from Tajikistan, said Navruz is a holiday that represents spring and new beginnings, and dates back to a time thousands of years ago when a worthy king replaced a long line of cruel and wicked ones.
She said the celebration was a chance not only for Central Asian and Middle Eastern students to teach other students about the way people live 6,000 miles away, but an opportunity for international students to come together and be reminded of home.
"Sharing our culture, sharing our tradition and being in this environment, listening to our music, doing the same things we'd be doing at home, it's definitely ... great for us," Nozimzoda said. "I think for us, ourselves, it just reinforces our cultural identity."
It also allowed other students to step outside their own traditions and participate in a new kind of celebration. Junior Rebecca Ludwig said she was impressed by what she saw at the event, particularly that the dancing was respectful and fun, and that the hosts were kind and genuinely welcoming.
"They have a lot of life and are very energetic," the landscape architecture major said. "Everything is so colorful and bright."
Ludwig said the traditional dresses she had seen Miliyeva and other women wearing were beautiful.
"They must be very skilled craftsmen to make all those ornaments and clothing by hand," Ludwig said. "It's so intricate, and so nice to see handmade things when so much today is made in factories."
Miliyeva said a traditional Uzbekistani dress is worn for special occasions: holidays such as Navruz or post-wedding family welcomes. She also said being one of only two students from her home country at a school in the U.S. isn't as lonely as it might sound.
"We still feel at home because there are people from Tajikistan and Afghanistan and elsewhere," Miliyeva said. "We have many things in common, and we share many of the same traditions."
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