On March 18, North Forsyth High School hosted its first annual heritage celebration night, where cultures came together to celebrate and share traditions. The event was organized by Cassie Shoemaker, the sponsor of the Interact Club, who formulated the idea of hosting the event.
It was hosted from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in North Forsyth High’s cafeteria. Students, families and community members came together to honor their cultural backgrounds through dance, music, food and much more.
Many cultures came to participate in this memorable night, as booths from India, France, Mexico, the UK, and many more were seen sharing traditions and various foods.
The booth representing France let families and friends make their own Mardi Gras masks of different shapes and colors. The Slavic Club shared paper matryoshka dolls (матрёшки), or Russian nesting dolls, for everyone to color in and decorate. These groups were able to share their diverse culture as well as promote their clubs to anyone who is interested in joining or participating.
Many other booths–like the booth representing Mexico–also provided fun activities and food to share. For instance, they gave out Conchas, a Mexican sweet bread that’s topped with a sweet, slightly crumbly topping. Other booths depicting Mexican culture offered hand fans for people to decorate with fun colors.
A sophomore student, Karla Ruiz, who helped run the booth for Mexico, described how she loves sharing and learning about everyone’s culture and traditions, saying, “I love how there’s different cultures around me… and I love learning about it, as well as trying their food.”
Indonesia also had a booth, giving out delicious noodles called Mie Ayam. These noodles consist of seasoned yellow wheat noodles, mushroom and chicken and more. It has a savory, comforting and flavorful taste.
Booths representing India also had many fun and interesting activities. One booth shared drinks and sweet treats like Mango Lassi, a mango-flavored, yogurt-based beverage with a sweet and creamy texture. Another Indian booth treated people with henna tattoos, a semi-permanent, plant-based paste used to make intricate tattoo-like designs.
Sweetline Santosh, one of the members running the booth giving henna tattoos, said one of the things unique about the country she was representing was the language, stating, “We are diverse in nature, and we have a lot of religion and we speak multiple languages in India. Each state has different languages there.”
North Forsyth’s Heritage Night also had plenty of people who participated in the dancing and instrumental aspect of their culture, as people did Aztec dancing as well as playing the Veena, an Indian plucking string instrument.
Overall, North’s First Heritage Night Celebration was fun, eventful, and interesting, and community members, students and families look forward to North Forsyth’s future Heritage Nights down the line.
