The Nepalese Student Association at Southeastern celebrated Dashain over 8,000 miles away from home.

The celebration was held in the War Memorial Student Union Grand Ballroom at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27.

Spanning 15 days, Dashain honors the victory of the gods over the demons.

“Dashain is one of the major festivals for Nepali people more like the Hindu people,” said Event Manager Avash Mishra, a sophomore computer science major. “So, if you want to compare it with the Western culture, it’s more like Christmas, and it’s a two week long celebration, but the main day is on the 10th day, which we call tika, and that’s the day when we put tika on our forehead.”

The night included food, a raffle and dance and music performances.

“We have lots of our cultural dance and stuff like that,” said Mishra. “We also have some English songs because we do realize most of our guests are not going to understand our language, but I believe that entertainment doesn’t have language.”

Event Planner Adhar Prasai, a sophomore computer science major, tried to recreate the celebration to better match Dashain in Nepal. He discussed the representation of Nepalese culture at the university.

“It’s flourishing,” said Prasai. “It’s helping everyone to enjoy, and even American people are participating, so it’s really bonding together.”

Mishra shared how the celebration helps with the transition from Nepal to the United States.

“They do talk about once you move away from the country, you forget about it,” said Mishra. “You get dissolved in Western culture, but this helps us show us who we are. It also helps us promote our culture here at Southeastern.”