FEATURE : Festival in POSTECH and Around the World
FEATURE : Festival in POSTECH and Around the World
  • Reporter Kwon Na-eun & Lee Il-
  • 승인 2015.06.03 11:51
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A place of Harmony and Communication, Festivals Around the World
A place of Harmony and Communications, Festivals Around the World
The most obvious difference between the Sunrise Festival and other university festivals is the theme. This year, the theme of Sunrise Festival was “Still Alive,” meaning that the festival of POSTECH is still fun and enjoyable, opposing the existing opinions that the Sunrise Festival was boring for the past few years. As most Postechians know, the theme of the Sunrise Festival changes every year. It is determined by the students who prepare for the festival.
Festivals from other universities usually have unique themes and remain constant every year. For example, Australian National University holds a festival called Dragon Night Market. It is a welcome party to greet all students from China, as well as inviting anyone who wishes to experience Chinese culture, regardless of their home country. In the festival, Chinese students of the university and Scholars Association opens up a night market at which foods from various cultures are sold. They also present performances: pop bands, pop soloists, traditional Chinese instruments, and pop dances. Universities in America are considerably unique in that they have no official festivals. Festivals are usually associated with a local society, not the university itself.
However, collegiate sports competitions, especially NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) football, are huge events in the U.S. A. single football game, attended by as many as 100,000 people including alumni, residents, and tourists. In addition, there are other sports games between rival universities in America. For example, Princeton holds an annual lacrosse match with Cornell. Universities in the Philippines choose festival themes by the religious purpose of the university. Ateneo de Manila University, operated by the Society of Jesus, holds a festival celebrating saints from the Society of Jesus like Founder Ignatius de Loyola.
Furthermore, there is a festival that the period of festival has historical significance. The ANZAC day celebrates the spirit of ANZAC at the Gallipoli battle, which stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It is 100th anniversary of ANZAC Day this year, so universities located in New Zealand and Australia, such as Auckland University, hosted the various festivals of commemoration.
The period when the festivals are held is another notable difference. The Sunrise Festival took place from May 13 - 15 this year, which was Wednesday - Friday. In contrast, the festivals of American universities are usually held on weekends because they do not have an official non-lecture period for the festivals. They follow a strict curriculum made before the start of the semester. Instead of the free days for the festival, they have a one-week Spring Break right after the midterm. During this time, students often take short trips and hold parties individually. A university basketball and football tournament in America hosted by NCAA is held in spring and fall, respectively. Universities in western European countries such as France and Germany usually do not have special dates or periods for the festival. ANU (Australian National University) has two distinct festivals called Dragon Night Market, described above, held in March, and ANU Twilight Festival, held in November.
The presence or absence of pubs at festivals is another interesting point of comparison. The Sunrise Festival has many booths at night that sell specially mixed liquors with well-made snacks and dishes. Japanese universities used to have many booths like this, but recently, they are all prohibited on campus due to the frequent occurrences of accidents. Many other foreign university festivals also have booths selling liquors, but they do not sell them as a main product like booths at POSTECH, because their festivals are widely opened to the community and many families visit there.
Overall, the distinct difference between the festivals of universities was the host and the target of the festivals. The Sunrise Festival is conducted by students themselves, and gives impression of the festival produced by students, and targeting the students. On the other hand, many foreign universities including American universities and western European universities have festivals co-organized by students with the university, and the festivals are targeting the community residents and family visitors.
It was also impressive that there are various types of foreign culture themed festivals in foreign universities and POSTECH also have one. It is a meaningful point for POSTECH because POSTECH now announced the campus as a bilingual campus, approaching all over the world. It’s hard to define all the properties of diverse festivals in this short article, but Sunrise Festival is expectd to make an evolutionary step forward and incorporate good points of various festivals someday.