PharmaCulture

Hosted by the PGSA, this event series aims to celebrate diversity within our Department. Anyone is welcome to lead or help lead a workshop to share an aspect of their culture, and all are welcome to attend.

For our first event of the series, we learned Persian dancing in celebration of Nowruz (Persian New Year). Nowruz marks an important celebration worldwide for various ethnic groups. Iranians gather on the first day of spring (during pre-COVID times) to celebrate the waking up of nature, be with their loved ones, dance together, eat delicious traditional meals, and start a new year with gratitude and love. This event was led by Setayesh Yazdani, an Iranian-Canadian grad student in the Department. She has been taking Persian dance classes and is a member of a professional Iranian dance group. 

For our second event of the series, we will get together to celebrate King’s day. This holiday in the Netherlands is always celebrated as a big family party to celebrate the birthday of King Willem-Alexander. There are a variety of activities happening in day including flea markets, festivals, boat rides, games and more. In the spirit of this day, a ‘gezellige’ games night will be organised for the Department with known games (like codenames and scribble.io) and Dutch games. This event is led by Evianne Rovers who still beliefs that the Netherlands does not truly have a culture other than being loud, straightforward and bunch of people being ‘gezellig’. Gezellig is a word only known in the Dutch language to describe a feeling felt in a pleasant, fun and welcoming situation with a group of people (family or friends).

If you would like to lead a workshop or have a suggestion for an event to share a part of your culture, please contact us at pgsa@utoronto.ca.