Describe a religious, cultural, or family tradition you can share with the Colgate community.

With parents from distinct ethnic backgrounds in conservative Nepalese society, I've not only witnessed the disproportionate societal treatment but also disparate cultural rituals and traditions.

The annual celebration of 'Chhath', a Hindu fiesta lauding the Sun for bestowing the bounties of life on earth, always triggered a profound enthusiasm in my family with rigorous observation of holy bathing accompanied with day-long abstinence from any dietary. On that auspicious day, as I organize the transportation of commodities-which include mother's hand-made delicacies like 'Thekuwa', 'Kheer'- to the nearest river, my dad warms up for the sacred prostration march with my uncles. The entire family collaborates to establish the venue for the worships on the sloppy riverbank while the little ones, oblivious of their surroundings, enjoy lighting firecrackers. As the mighty Sun rises up from the horizon, devotees head mid-way towards the river, singing mantras about the goddess 'Chhathi'. We take a dip in the holy water to substantiate our devotion for the longevity and success of our beloveds. The ritual ends with the consumption of water and the distribution of the blessed offerings to the helpless.

Apart from being one of the eco-friendliest Hindu carnivals, Chhath is the celebration of 'Unity in Diversity' in our multi-cultural Nepalese society with an emphasis on mutual cooperation among racial heterogeneity. Thus, with possession of such maturity fueled with my ambitious competitiveness and passion for learning, I would thrive in Colgate's well-rounded platform to pursue my academic interests, not to mention the enrichment of students' diversity.

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Sushant, is there any chance that your culture has a tradition or perhaps your family has an internal tradition that is much simpler to celebrate? One that you can actually translate into say, a special celebration day at Colgate that can be shared with the entire student community?

You see, this particular essay is asking you, in an indirect manner, to share a method by which you can help enrich the student community of Colgate through the sharing of your country's culture or your family traditions. It is a method by which the university can continue to cultivate and promote the diversity of the student campus and promote camaraderie and understanding among the students. So if you can just adjust the celebration that you are presenting to something that can easily translate to a "stateside" celebration, you should be able to more than adequately share a significant part of your cultural background with the university community.

@Holt
Are you saying that I should reduce the portion describing the method of celebration ? Or, are you saying I've written about a complex ritual ?

The ritual that you have chosen to share with Colgate University is too complex for it to be accurately reproduced on a smaller or medium scale at the university. The prompt is encouraging you to share your culture and tradition with the university. However, there is no way that the university can help you recreate an event this complex.

Consider that you are being asked to help enhance the cultural exchange and cultural environment of the student community. How can you properly introduce your culture to the students based upon a cultural experience that they can easily understand, participate in, and hopefully identify with.

Think smaller but informative. Make it moderately complex to mount, but still enjoyable to the participants. Imagine yourself at the university during that time of the year when the event is celebrated. How can it be presented to the community in such a way that the students will want to experience the culture and tradition of your country?

Consider those factors and then try to find something in your culture or family traditions that can be presented for the consideration of the university for implementation should you become a student there.

@Holt
Deusi Rey...

Every Nepalese family revels in the annual fiesta of lights, 'Tihar', not only via exhibition of dignity towards fellow humans, but also by honoring the beneficence of animals. The entire family coproduces ambrosial delicacies like 'Selroti' and 'Onrassah' before the inauguration of the first day- 'Kaag Tihar', when Crows are worshipped and offered desserts with the belief of aversion of grief in the family. Every nook and corner of the house ...

Sushant, how do you expect to share this tradition with the Colgate community? Think of the bigger picture when you try to develop the tradition that you wish to share with the students of the university. As you explain the importance of the ritual or tradition, you should also make reference as to how the university can modify the activity in order to allow for the fullest participation of the student community.

Think of it in terms of Christmas caroling in the United States. This is a holiday tradition that requires the participation of almost all the members of the community who wish to take part in it. They get together as a group and go from house to house or dorm to dorm while singing songs that help to celebrate the season. Everyone who participates enjoys themselves, gets to know one another, and learns about certain beliefs of their other classmates and friends through the bonding process.

That is the kind of ritual that you should aim to share with the university. It has to be something that can translate to your college activity profile if necessary. It has to allow the full participation of the other students at Colgate, teach them something simple about your culture, and allow them to gain a sense of what it is like to be part of the ritual because it can be done on a smaller scale at the university during certain events or days.

@Holt
There is not a simpler festival in my country Nepal than this. Are you expecting me to describe about just a one-day event from among the other events above ? Would that be acceptable if I only describe about the 3rd day of Tihar i.e.Laxmi Pooja when we perform purification and celebration by singing Deusi Songs and dances together with relatives ? I'm sure that could be performed at small scale ?

My apologies Sushant for not being familiar with the Nepalese traditions. I am only learning about these traditions from you as we try to develop your essay. However, you have given me an idea as to how you can best respond to this prompt. I would like to make the following suggestion that just might resolve the problem of complexity that your traditions and rituals have.

Start the essay with an overview of the meaning of the festival. Just explain what it is about. Then say something like this:

Due to the complexity of the ritual involved, I don't believe that I can share everything about the performance of the ritual for the Colgate community. However, I can share the highlights of the festival which, if necessary, can be replicated on a smaller scale for the enjoyment of the student community. Highlights such as the ....

From that point, choose one of the simpler highlights from each day, explain its relevance to the festival then explain that it is simple enough to introduce the culture and festival to the community. You can either choose only one highlight as an example or one from every day of the ritual, with an explanation that it can be celebrated at Colgate in a single commemorative day if need be. My vote would be to just choose one easy to mount part of the festival, just so it can be celebrated by the whole community. Most likely, it is the food celebration that will be best appreciated by the student body.

@Holt
Would it be fine if I simply remove the details about the separate days of celebration and just mention the appreciable and manageable acts performed during the entire festival ?

You can do that Shushant. Just make sure that you give a complete overview of the whole ritual first. That way the reviewer will know that you will be taking a shortcut in the presentation by only concentrating on the appreciable facts for your essay. Let him know that all the Nepalese rituals take days on end to complete and you would like to share the whole festival if you could but it would be impossible to mount the same scale of a ritual at Colgate University.

Remember to pay particular attention to any activities that the student community might be interested in participating in. Parts like the lighting up of patios using lanterns might be of interest to the dorms and frat houses on campus. Or the day when the dog is honored. Americans are mostly crazy about their pets, specially dogs so any reason to honor them may be something the campus authorities might be interested in supporting. Don't forget the Bhai Tika, I think that the ritual will help to promote sibling type of love, understanding, and care among the students. Adjust your presentation as necessary.

@Holt How about now, sir ?
Deusi Rey...

Every Nepalese family revels in the annual fiesta of lights, 'Tihar', not only via exhibition of dignity towards fellow humans, but also by honoring the beneficence of animals. During this auspicious festival, we prepare ambrosial delicacies like 'Selroti' and 'Onrassah'- typical Nepali cuisines. Every nook and corner of the house is sanitized and jazzed up with colorful lanterns while the patios are garnished with'Rangoli'- a picturesque artwork signifying a sacred entrée. With the belief of aversion of grief in the family, ravens are worshipped and offered desserts.

The dog- which is not only a Hindu mythological creature but also has looked after our residence and family- is worshipped and treated with a feast. The Hindu goddess of prosperity, 'Laxmi' is idolized with exquisite garlands and offerings. At the cruelly beautiful dusk, I hit the strings with my friends and family primped up with traditional attires of 'Daura Suruwal', 'Dhaka Topi', and geared up with musical instruments to play 'Deusi-Bhailo'- a musical collaboration performed at the venues of relatives with an exchange of blessings, refreshments and tips. The symphony of 'Deusi' entices people of every age-group to rejoice the moment by singing and dancing along with the band regardless of their race, color or any sort of personal entities.

Sisters pay homage to the affectionate bond with their brothers by putting seven-colored 'Tilaka'- Vermilion paste-on their foreheads along with the sharing of presents, not to mention the brothers getting garlanded, worshipped and fed with special cuisines by sisters.