String lights wrapped around the railings of the Quarry Amphitheater during the early evening hours on May 2. Music flowed through the air, echoing into the streets, beyond Ivéta Cafe and the Quarry Plaza. A line of over 200 people stretched around the shaded path, all waiting for the main event at the center of the redwoods.
Organizers sporting neon vests and metal name tags scrambled around, preparing for the opening of AA/PI/SWANA’s Heritage Night Market: Under the Crescent Moon.
“This year we really wanted to highlight the AAPI SWANA history that [has] happened on campus,” said Matthew Morimoto, a second-year UC Santa Cruz student and the lead retention coordinator for Community Unified Student Network (CUSN). “We really wanted to make sure students knew that we’ve been here and we’ll stay here.”
The event was organized by four campus organizations, the Asian American Pacific Islander Resource Center (AAPIRC), the Women’s Center, CUSN and the Kuya-Ate Mentorship Program (KAMP) to celebrate the beginning of May, which is widely regarded as AAPI Heritage month.
The prominence of Asian night markets originated in China during the Tang Dynasty, specifically in the ninth century A.D. They hosted a variety of food and art-related celebrations of Asian cultures. Now, night markets are prominent in many Asian cultures with the addition of games, vendors and snacks, which have spread across the globe to America and even to UCSC.
Once the gates opened, attendees flooded into the amphitheater, grabbing raffle tickets for food from volunteers and exploring the 34 booths set up by various vendors and student organizations. As the sky transformed from orange to grey, the string lights turned on, bathing the setting in a luminescent hue.
While some booths sold jewelry, others handed out flyers and hosted games and activities. Some tables also served Asian foods and drinks including musubi, bubble tea, samosas and spring rolls. Each table handed out tickets to game winners for a prize raffle event at the end of the night.
Over 100 attendees wait in line for an assortment of Asian food and snacks.
“There’s so many diverse booths,” said Charan Rameshkumar, a second-year UCSC student and attendee at the event. “I think that really captures the essence of what [being] AAPI is, bringing a lot of people together, so I really like that.”
By 6 p.m., over 500 people filled the amphitheater, exploring the different tables and waiting for the upcoming events. Almost 1,000 people reserved their spot online. In an interview with City on a Hill Press after the event, Morimoto reflected on the diverse turnout.
“I think it was a great time for us to all really get together, really be influenced by the cultural similarities, but still understand the differences in the cultures that the different AA/PI/SWANA countries have,” Morimoto said. “Being able to be in the same area, really see it, and have fun together was really important for us.”
Charlene Wang, a second-year international student from Taipei and the co-President of Taiwanese Student Association (TSA), tabled at the event. She shared her feelings of being able to experience a night market away from home.
“[The night market] feels like a second home. It is a really significant part of Taiwanese culture,” Wang said. “Having this environment … it feels like going back home and sharing this culture with everyone else that’s not from Taiwan or like Asia just feels extra special.”
A sign of the Taiwanese Student Association (TSA), whose mission is to spread Taiwanese culture and bring students with the same background together.
Anakbayan, a student organization that advocates for students in the Philippines, also tabled at the event, selling T-shirts, pins and handmade merchandise. Glo Ramos, the chairperson for Anakbayan, spoke about the community and organizations coming together.
“I’ve worked at the Ethnic Resource Center for three years and I love it, but I’ve never seen the community like this before,” Ramos said. “I think we should keep doing this and uplifting our cultures, our histories, and our ongoing movements so that we can continue to raise each other up and continue to understand that our struggles are interconnected.”
Around 5:50 p.m., two emcees took the stage to introduce the performers for the night. Anakbayan went first and performed “Tatsulok,” a Filipino folk song that highlights the inequality that faces marginalized groups in the Philippines.
“We wanted to perform Tatsulok to celebrate what being AAPI/SWANA really means, which is resisting the powers that are really trying to exploit us, and really calling them out,” Ramos said. “We wanted to post that message to people, especially knowing that there’s a huge population of Pilipino students on this campus. It’s ever-growing.”
Following Anakbayan, the Haluan Hip-Hop Dance Troupe, Raas Rangeela and StarChrome filled the stage with dance performances. A K-pop random play dance marked the halfway point of the event, opening the stage for anyone who wanted to dance to a randomized playlist of K-pop songs.
The night ended with performances from Astellium, a J-pop and J-rock artist, Mii, a DJ and RnB vocalist who flew from Japan for the event, and concluded with the prize raffle. The winners were given various prizes, including figurine Smiskis, passes to the SacAnime convention occurring in August, Squishmallows and the biggest giveaway: an iPad.
Astellium, a J-pop and J-rock artist performs on stage in front of a moshing crowd.
Toward the end of the night, Charlene Wang stressed the importance of having AAPI/SWANA events on campus.
“Bringing this culture into UC Santa Cruz, having people experience it themselves, I think really teaches people about why this is so significant in Asian countries,” Wang said. “The food is so good, it’s just a different environment, a different vibe to be in, and I think it’s just so fun.”