The South Asian Student Union (SASU) held a Diwali celebration in the Student Commons on Friday, Oct. 26.

The celebration was open to anyone regardless of membership in SASU. Members of SASU brought food and decorations, played music and had a station where students could get henna tattoos.

“This means everything to me,” vice president, junior Jecintha Perianayagam said. “It’s the reason I do this club. I get a chance to celebrate my culture and to share it with my friends through hosting all these events. It’s just incredible to be able to share a little piece of who I am with everyone else.”

While some of the food at the celebration was catered, many students and their families cooked food themselves. attendees not being South Asian.

“A lot of us made food and put effort into it, and to see everyone actually enjoy it, is great,” freshman Renu Vijayaraj said.

“It makes me really happy that people are willing to overlook the racial stereotypes that they put against us and come and celebrate with us,” treasurer, sophomore Ruhika Jaiswal said.

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, though other religions across South Asia celebrate the holiday too. This year Diwali began on Oct. 29 and will end on Nov. 3.

“I really like the music and the decorations,” junior Joshua Campbell said. “The food was really good. Even though I couldn’t eat half of it because I was allergic, they still had something for me.”

SASU was created in 2022 by class of 2024 graduate Vedant Patel, who attended Friday’s celebration, as a group for South Asians to foster community within WJ. Patel said that he never imagined that the club would expand as much as it did.

“It’s like having a legacy,” Patel said. “A lot of people start something and once they leave it dies off, but I feel like the opposite is happening and it’s like it’s growing and becoming larger than what it was intended to be.”