Reunion Dinner 2019
Malaysia is a country that is multiracial. There are many different ethnic groups living in the country including Malays, Chinese, Indians, and other indigenous Bumiputra groups. Hence, there are many different festivals to be celebrated according to each race.
In this post, I am going to discuss The Reunion Dinner. A reunion dinner is celebrated by Chinese people on New Year’s Eve. It is considered the most important meal of the entire year because every family member will gather together although they are far from home. It is an event to be cherished and remembered.
On 22 February 2019, the UCSI University Chinese Cultural Society organised an event which was known as The Reunion Dinner 2019. It was held at the Multi-Purpose Hall in Block A. Participants who were interested would just have to pay RM38 each and they can enjoy delicious food and a special show. I was a facilitator for that event. My job was to greet participants and usher them in. Other than UCSI students, there were also many outsiders from different universities joining this event. They even invited children from the orphanage to join this event. What was surprising was, not only Chinese people, but even people from different races such as Indians joined this event too.
There were so many interesting shows such as singing, face changing from Sichuan Opera, dances and so on. The most memorable show was a stage drama performed by the committee of this event. It was a story about the reunion dinner of a small family. At the beginning, there was an old couple struggling to decide whether they should contact their children who were living far away from home to come back for reunion dinner. After their neighbour convinces them, they decide to contact their children but not all of them could come home because they were busy with their work and studies. A few years later, their youngest child went back to find them. However, the house was empty, he asked the neighbour where his parents were. He almost cried his heart out when he was told that they had passed away. At the end of this show, all of the family members except their father and mother gathered together in the old house. From this, the message is that we have to appreciate and care about our family and people who care about us before we have regrets, especially students who study far from home. We should contact our family and go home whenever we are free.
It was tiring but at the same time, an exciting night. Throughout this event, I got to know many friends from different courses, learned to deal with emergency situations and enjoyed a wonderful night since I had four quizzes and midterms during those two weeks. This allowed me to escape from studies for a short time and helped me be more effective in studying after a short break.
So, for those who still have not found a way to relieve your stress, participate in these kind of events which may help you a lot and at the same time, you can gain ELE points.