 "Photo: Stephanie Crumley")
More than 30 Boston University students gathered in the basement of the religion department last night to drink tea and listen to Asian religions professor Gina Cogan speak about the cultural and interactive element of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
The second annual "Tea and Tie Dye," sponsored by the Undergraduate Religion Association, was aimed at showing a fun and culturally interesting aspect of religion as a discipline, according to URA President Jennifer Burda.
Despite the title, tea and tie dye have no correlation, Burda, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said. She said the tie-dye part of the event was simply for fun, chosen to add alliteration to the event title.
Cogan spoke of the history and ritual of the tea ceremony and its migration to Japan from China. Buddhist Monks originally used tea as a stimulant during meditation.
While living in Japan and staying with a host family for more than two months, Cogan was invited to study the art of the tea ceremony.
"It was not just about learning the ritual, but it was interaction with the Japanese people who were welcoming me, as a person from another culture," she said.
The tea ceremony is important to Japanese family and human interaction, Cogan said. More than 10 million people, 90 percent of whom are women, study the ceremony today. She said she was approached to speak at the event because of her knowledge of Zen Buddhism, a major part of the tea ceremony.
Cogan laughed at the irony in her giving the lecture because she "loves coffee."
Burda said she was pleased with the amount of students at the event, which received no funding from the Student Activities Office and was sponsored entirely by the religion department.
"We stepped up advertisement for the event, and we had an impressive turnout for a group that has only been around for three years," she said.
Some students said they came to the event for a cultural learning experience.
"My grandmother teaches me the tea ceremony when I return to Japan, so I thought it would be interesting to come learn about the history," CAS junior Kaori Fujita said.
CAS senior Thao Tran said she came to learn more about her roommate's culture.
"My roommate is Japanese, so I wanted to come to the event," she said. "Plus, tie dye sounds like fun."
The URA sponsored a lecture on women in Islam earlier this semester and is looking to start a BU student conference on religion and organize field trips to the nearby Church of Scientology and The Christian-Science Monitor.
Be the first to comment on this article!