The Harrisonburg International Festival had its 19th run on Sept. 24th at Hillandale Park. Its goal is to celebrate the language and cultural diversity that Harrisonburg has. This year, more than sixteen different cultures had stands or performed, and the spectator turnout was in the thousands. Jordanian sophomore Malak Bani-Hani was among the spectators.

“[I’m here] so that I can celebrate the different cultures and the diversity of Harrisonburg. It’s important to highlight that diversity and to really display that even though we are all different, we can all come together and have one big celebration where we celebrate everybody. As kids come around here, it’s displaying that it is okay to be this different culture and have these different traditions. It’s kind of like the social barriers are being cut down because it’s seen as acceptable to be different,” Bani-Hani said.

Bani-Hani helped at the Palestinian stall momentarily, but for the rest of the day, she tried to show off her culture with her clothing.

“I’m wearing the traditional Jordanian piece of cloth. It has the red, which displays Jordan, so if I were to see this on anybody else, I could definitely tell they were Jordanian. [I have also experienced] Kurdish culture; they are really cool. I really like their dresses and their traditions are consistent from at home to here. It’s cool to see them come together as a big family. I also really liked the Mexicans because they look good, and their food is incredible,” Bani-Hani said.

Bani-Hani was born in Harrisonburg, but her parents originally lived in Jordan. They moved to Charlottesville and then further North to Harrisonburg. Bani-Hani has gone back to Jordan twice in her lifetime during the summer of 2010 and then the summer of 2016.

“It was nice. I got to see all of my family, my sister got engaged and it was a nice time to reconnect with my culture because I had been so far away from it. Over there, it’s all family. You feel a lot more connected to the people because there is a lot of similarities. Almost everybody is the same religion, but here, not everybody has the same culture, not everybody speaks the same language and have the same religion, but it’s cool to be immersed in that. I just like to go to Jordan and experience those similarities,” Bani-Hani said.

Jordan borders Iraq, Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia. It is a predominantly a Sunni Muslim country with about 90% following the branch of islam.

“[In Jordan] you hear the five calls to prayer and everything closes down. On Fridays, everyone is in the mosques. It’s easy to be Muslim over there, but here, you have to act upon your religion on your own. We practice five times a day. Our religion practices peace, unity and being kind. I think the media has definitely ruined that image of our religion towards a lot of people. It’s sometimes hard to live with that,” Bani-Hani said.

Outside of the International festival, Bani-Hani experiences some cultural and racial conflicts.

“Wherever you have two or more different cultures, there are always going to be tensions. I haven’t experienced any of that today which is a nice refresher. Everybody at this festival is unified and we all came here to celebrate culture so we are very accepting of each other. [Outside of the festival] not everybody displays their culture. Everyone keeps to themselves. They are afraid of people saying ‘oh, you’re this,’ but here, everybody is celebrated,” Bani-Hani said.

Bani-Hani’s worst experiences were not race or culture affiliated, but had roots deeper into Islamophobia

“Outside of the festival, I experience a lot of Islamophobia,” Bani-Hani said. “People scowl at my Hijab and I’ve heard people mutter terrorist under their breath when I walk by. It’s better if I don’t engage. I just don’t want to deal with it. It pisses me off honestly. You don’t even know me but you’re glaring at me and muttering under your breath. Sometimes, I even feel like I have to smile more to get the same amount of respect as others. Here at the festival, I don’t feel like I have to act like someone who I’m not.”

See more about the International Festival: https://www.hhsmedia.com/?p=16465&preview=true

Gallery • 10 Photos

Vivian Neal

Mavis shows her cultural clothes from Ghana.