Ahead of the Festival of Lights and Luminaries, the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life is working with multiple groups on campus to ensure those on campus can see a reflection of who they are amongst the lights of the night.
Hosted by Elon’s Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, the Festival of Lights and Luminaries is in the works and is set to occur Dec. 3. Though the tradition of the luminaries has been around for a long time, Lights and Luminaries will see its fourth rendition of this version of the event, highlighting a multitude of the cultures and religions that create Elon University’s community. This event has been an Elon tradition for longer, but this will be its fourth year called Lights and Luminaries.
Working with those around them, the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual life has been meeting with organizations around campus, sophomore Aeiris Faloni said. As one of eight multifaith interns and one of three “point people” for Lights and Luminaries, Faloni has had a large role along with her peers in organizing this event.
“We’ve been reaching out to all of the spiritual and religious clubs and organizations, as well as cultural clubs and organizations on campus to come together, all around the theme of light, to explore and talk about their different identities,” Faloni said.
Faloni said those in attendance this year can expect to see tables from German Club with wreath decorating and Surtal — Elon’s Bollywood dance group, among many others. Also this year, the Asian-Pacific Student Association will host a table to discuss Lunar New Year. There will also be other activities and groups in attendance, such as writing letters to Santa, Faloni said.
Sophomore and multifaith intern Lizeth Torres-Tomas also said the festival is a great sense of community.
“Even though Elon’s campus is an academic oriented space, the Truitt Center hosts the Lights and Luminaries specifically to have it as an embodiment of a model for people to come together to share joy and community. It’s just a time for community,” Torres-Tomas said.
According to Hillary Zaken, director of Multifaith Programming and Engagement, the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life is excited to see an act of unity spread across Elon’s campus and provide an opportunity for those to embrace their culture and learn about the others that occupy campus.
Elon University’s motto, seen on the institution’s seal, is “Numen Lumen,” meaning “spiritual light” and “intellectual light,” both of which correlate directly to the core values of the Lights and Luminaries event, according to the Truitt Center’s website. Faloni said she believes the event is crucial to expanding diversity across Elon and learning from each other.
“Elon is a multifaith community, it’s super important that we all come out and show the connection between our different religious and cultural traditions and also to gain a religious and cultural understanding,” Faloni said. “We like to call it a religious screen, for the experiences of others. It makes us better people ourselves and also more accepting of our fellow peers than our experiences.”