Campus Activities Board (CAB) collaborated with the Office of Multicultural Student Life on Thursday night to bring a game called “Loteria” to the North Pod of the Memorial Union. The game was the fourth event of the University of Maine’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations, which run from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.
Loteria is similar to traditional bingo. The playing card is made up of a myriad of traditional drawings, including depictions of fish, cellos and the devil organized in a grid. The Spanish word for each drawing is written underneath. As opposed to bingo, in which numbered balls are picked out of a rotating cage, loteria cards are picked by the host and read aloud to the players. Jenny Kiernan, president of CAB, was the host on Thursday.
Andrea Shane, vice president of CAB, said that CAB alternates weekly events between bingo and trivia, hosted in the North Pod.
“The Multicultural Center reached out to us and asked if we wanted to collaborate on this event, which we were extremely excited about,” Shane said
The prizes this week included face painting materials and a movie night kit, which included a copy of Disney’s “Coco,” a blanket and a large bag of candy.
Kiernan said that CAB is working with the Office of Multicultural Student Life to host the next two events, which will be trivia next Thursday and loteria again the following week. Both events will follow the theme of Hispanic heritage.
“Each year the United States honors the contributions that Latinos have made to our country with a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration that runs from September 15 to October 15.” Silvestre Guzman, director of the Office of Multicultural Student Life, said. He continued that the celebration aims “to bring awareness to and celebrate the cultural diversity we have on campus and also to facilitate cross-cultural interactions among students.”
CAB’s trivia and bingo nights usually begin at 7 p.m., but because of the collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Student Life, the event didn’t start until 8 p.m. Kiernan said that she was “extremely happy with the turnout for the event despite the change of schedule.” Around 20 people attended.
“The Multicultural Office staff have organized many events in celebration of the Heritage Month. These events are open to the campus community and everyone is welcome to attend,” Guzman said.
The next Loteria night will be Thursday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. All following Thursday night CAB events will begin at 7 p.m. More information about these can be found on the office’s website, umaine.edu/multicultural/our-programs/.
