Party like it’s Good Friday

What looked like a typical Harlem Shake video came meandering into Bwog’s tip inbox last week; but unlike all the other frantic dances brought to our attention, this one was advertising a specific event, an event that you would maybe not associate with the Harlem Shake: Jesus Week. When it turned out that nobody at Bwog actually knew anything about Jesus Week, or what its possible relationship to Bauuer could be, we immediately investigated sent a few questions to the people behind the group. Tatianna Kufferath and Lilian Cho educated us, and through extension you, about Jesus Week and dancing for joy.

First, get your facts straight: “Rather than a specific group, Jesus Week is an event put on by a collective of Christian organizations of various denominations…we want the campus to know what the holiday of Easter is truly about, and how this relates to our lives today.” Tatianna and Lilian also gently clarified Bwog’s bewilderment and confirmed that we were indeed reading too much into their promo video:”[The] Jesus Shake is not fundamentally different from a Harlem Shake video. We simply thought this was a fun, contemporary format with which to publicize our event, and to express the joy that we feel in response to Jesus’ sacrifice. The name Jesus shake is changed from Harlem Shake to reflect the purpose of our celebration!”

Their response to the new Pope? The election only speaks to part of the Christian community on campus; and since many of the groups behind Jesus Week “[do not identify] as Catholic, it is very difficult for us to comment on the new pope. I think we all recognise that this is a large change and I’m sure we all have different responses on varying scales. Whilst the pope serves as a important figure in the Catholic community, what unifies all of us is our joy and passion for Jesus, and that is what we are hoping to celebrate through this event.”

The organizers had the most to say about religion on campus, a topic that for many students seems to come up only in CC classes, and what their goals are for the weekend’s events:

“Although religion in practice is not perhaps a major topic of conversation throughout campus, we believe that this does not have to be the case. For the communities behind Jesus Week, our faith very much informs our daily lives. One of the primary purposes of this event, then, is to bring this active interest and ongoing conversation about what it means to follow Jesus to the rest of campus. One of the things that we hope to accomplish through Jesus Week is to provide a vision of Jesus that goes beyond the secular understanding of who he is…we hope to show that through the variety of events Jesus Week provides, including events that focus on social justice, prayer, worship and intellectual engagement. We welcome all members of the Columbia community to these events, whatever their religious background. We are excited to continue these conversations into the future with our peers.”

Get more information about Jesus Week here; the first events begin tonight.