Harvest Festival: What it means to me

The Harvest Festival at SGMOSC is an annual tradition that I attended for the first time three years ago. I found myself enraptured by the culture and traditions so evidently portrayed by this event. The community that organizes this event year after year is tireless. The unified efforts of these men and women astounded me and continue to do so. The incredible food, live music and games continue to awe those of us who attend the festival yearly. The work that goes into this is astonishing. Many members of our community show off their talents on and off the stage. Men, women and children come together to organize activities and games. The food is different, delicious and is proof of all the effort and hard work that went into it. The Harvest Festival is a lot of fun, but what it’s really about is sharing our culture and traditions with the world. When I first moved to the U.S, I thought everything about me had to change. I thought that the person that I was wasn’t good enough. I thought I had to let go of my roots and where I came from. The Harvest Festival is a reminder about the parts of ourselves we think we need to keep hidden. It is a wake up call to the overwhelming beauty and grace found in our own cultures and ourselves. Most of all, it is an effort to spread that beauty, grace and the everlasting joy that we find in making this event possible.