WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Celebrate the holiday season at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 when the University/Community Programs (U/CP) Department at Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) presents “Winter Around the World.”
This free event will take place in the West Plains Civic Center theater. All are welcome.
MSU-WP Emeritus Professor Kay Garrett and West Plains Elementary School music teacher Becky Quimby will guide those attending on a virtual trip around the world as they share, through storytelling and music, the holidays and traditions celebrated by cultures and countries near and far.
These include:
- Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance;
- Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights that commemorates the recovery of Jerusalem and the rededication of the second temple at the start of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid empire;
- Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday that is based on harvest festival traditions from several African nations;
- Christmas, the religious and cultural celebration of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ in a manger in Bethlehem;
- Chinese New Year, the Chinese cultural celebration of the Lunar New Year, which marks the end of the winter season and the beginning of spring.
Garrett, a former assistant professor of communications at MSU-WP, spent over 40 years in education, teaching public speaking at both the secondary and collegiate level before retiring in 2007.
She also taught theater and developed a traveling theater troupe that performed interactive dramas with eighth-grade students in a five-county area of south-central Missouri.
Quimby has been in music education for more than 20 years, teaching both privately and in the classroom. She grew up in northwest Missouri and moved to West Plains in 2017. She is in her fifth year of teaching music at West Plains Elementary School.
U/CP officials hope “Winter Around the World” will help area residents find their holiday spirit.
“‘Winter Around the World’ is a one-of-a-kind event especially crafted for our holiday season this year,” said U/CP Theater and Events Coordinator Hannah Salvesen. “‘Winter Around the World’ will be an exciting experience and will add depth of meaning to our wonderful holiday traditions.”
For more information, contact the U/CP office at 417-255-7966 or visit WP.MissouriState.edu/UCP.
