Festival of Lights, a history

The lighting of the holiday tree in front of the Ronald K. & Kati C. Machtley Interfaith Center

“Before we leave to go light the Christmas tree, take a moment to look up and notice the bright candle lights shining in the glass ceiling” President Machtley said.

When I applied to universities my senior year of high school, I always wanted to visit them in person. No matter how great they looked to me on paper, I had to see them for myself because the feeling you have when you are in an environment is completely different from the paper in your hands.

When I came to Bryant, my sister came with me and she could not stop talking about it as she was a senior here at that time. The one thing she would always talk about was the Festival of Lights because she was part of the Student Alumni Association. At the time I did not really understand what all the hype was about; all the upperclassmen I asked said they could not wait for Festival of Lights.

The morning of Festival of Lights, I finally understood as my expectations for the event were exceeded. All day I helped take pictures of Santa and Mrs. Klaus and being higher up on the platform I could see the entire Roto. The area was filled with people enjoying the holiday spirit with friends and professors.

That night I had to go to the Roto again to help put together the candles being used for the celebration. I could not possibly imagine what this would be like. Finally, it was seven and I was passing out candles to the students who crowded the Roto. There was no room to even walk around and soon the Machtleys came and joined us. There were chairs set up for the carolers and for the special guests lighting each meaningful religious piece on the long rectangular table. To create a cozy feeling both AV walls were lighted with moving flames from a fireplace.

The ceremony started with the President saying a few words to the crowd of students. Then we celebrated Christmas, Hanukah, Diwali, and Kwanza all within an hour! We listened to the readings of various clergy, enjoyed a rousing and inspirational sing a long of holiday music from countries and religions around the world. Then there was the lighting of the candle each person held in his or her own hand. What started out as the light from one tiny candle turned into many flickering lights reflected in the glass ceiling of the Roto as people lit the flame of their candles by joining their candle with their neighbor’s. Right before we left, the President took a moment to tell us to look up – hundreds of candles each shining bright on the Roto glass ceiling were sparkling like stars in a clear winter night sky.

Soon after the lighting of the candles, we headed over to the Bryant Center to light the Christmas tree and Menorah. Afterwards we cheered the bright tree and Menorah and went inside for some delicious hot chocolate and scrumptious sugar cookies.

This year will be the 35th year Bryant University celebrates the Festival of Lights on December 7th. Holiday times are a favorite time for many and an appropriate occasion to gather as a student body to commemorate different holidays from around the world because though we may celebrate in different ways, celebrating our diversity together is what makes it all special.