How sharing cultures brings people closer to home and to each other
Monica Paz, a regular at Fredericton's annual Cultural Expressions Festival, has learned how to say hello in eight languages.
"Just small things like that can make a difference in someone's life," said Paz, a university student who arrived in Fredericton from Honduras with her parents and siblings six years ago.
"I know I love it when people come up to me and start trying to speak Spanish. It just makes you feel good."
The Cultural Expressions Festival, which is celebrating its 10th year this weekend keeps growing and welcoming new people.
It began in 2008, when the Chinese Cultural Association of New Brunswick and the Multicultural Association of Fredericton joined a lantern festival and a cultural fair together.
A living library
Since then, the festival has grown to include other cultural organizations around the city and province. The program this year is called "We are all ethni.c" and there are activities Saturday and Sunday at Officers' Square downtown.
The festival features a living library as a way for people to have deeper conversations about culture, as well as a 10-panel mural sketched by local artists and filled in with colour by the community.
Tom Ng, co-chair of the Cultural Expressions Festival committee, said it's an important event for newcomers who are settling in to life in Canada.
"Fredericton is growing culturally, and we've always wanted to make sure that allows and includes all Frederictonians, so we can all get together and celebrate our culture and share our experiences so that everyone learns from each other," Ng said.
Sharing salsa
Paz has been involved with the festival since she landed in Fredericton.
The 19-year-old has just finished her first year at St. Thomas University and is looking forward to performing a dance with her friends, as she does every year.
"I feel like it's something we have to show them, in a way," she said. "Show them that there's more than just the Canadian culture out there."
Paz said that when she first arrived in Canada she experienced a shock — from the culture and the weather — but she likes living in Fredericton now.
"When you come from a big city, people are not really as nice, I guess, because they are always running to work or running late. And people from small towns … they're more open, they have more time for you."
While she enjoys celebrating and sharing her Latin culture, she also appreciates the chance to learn about other cultures, she said.
"Before I came here, I didn't really know anything about other cultures," she said. "All I knew was the Spanish culture and that's it.
"There's not a lot of multicultural people in Honduras, so when I moved here I was actually pretty shocked."
Paz's mother, Acilia Brizzio, also dances salsa at the festival, joining friends in costumes, with feathers and matching skirts.
Curious about Canada
Oksana Hlyzka moved from Ukraine to Fredericton last August with her husband. She started out as a volunteer with the cultural festival this year but was then was asked to perform.
Hlyzka will be singing Chervona Ruta, a traditional Ukrainian folk song about a rare mountain flower, with another Ukrainian friend. They'll be the festival's first Ukrainian performers.
"I am very honoured," Hlyzka said. "As far as I know, here in Fredericton, they don't have a very tight community of Ukrainians … so maybe we will start something here."
She said she dreamed of coming to Canada for a long time.
Still close to home
"I love geography and always when I looked at the map, it was so far from me. It's more than 6,000 kilometres from here to my hometown … and I was always wondering, 'How is it there? How do they live? What weather do they have?'"
When she arrived, Hlyzka said, she was excited and a little afraid, but her fears were quickly put to rest by the friendly people she encountered.
She said she likes to learn about new cultures, especially how they celebrate different holidays. Canadian Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter were all new to her compared to Ukrainian traditions.
"We made a turkey dinner for Christmas," Hlyzka said. "I was so excited. We haven't celebrated Halloween yet but probably this [year] we are going to celebrate it."
Even as she embraces life in Canada, Hlyzka said, she isn't trading one culture for another, just expanding her knowledge.
All one family
And that's why she thinks events such as the Cultural Expressions Festival are important.
"It doesn't matter where you are right now, because we need to know our roots, our history, our realities, to know who we really are, to understand who we are."
Hlyzka said she's been surprised by some of the similarities between Ukraine and Canada.
Even the smell of trees brings back memories of home, an experience that was especially intense during a visit to Hanwell Recreation Park.
"It's really, really strange because when you close your eyes you feel like you're home, but in your heart you realize you are not. You are very far from there."
For Hlyzka, the festival is about appreciating the uniqueness of other nationalities and recognizing that no matter their language, everyone is part of the same family.
"We're a big one — but family."
