Journal of History and Culture Journal of History and Culture

j o u r n a l o f h i s t o r y a n d c u l t u r e
only place from where you can get a glimpse of the entire ring… I mean all the portals…
my friend and I were just discussing about how weird it was that people were leaving coins
at the center… kindda like a wishing well. I guess people just start their own traditions
that way… it (leaving coins) must have some significance. It must be important… the
tradition of throwing coins. It must be. Why else would they (people) do it? Being at the
center makes you feel so insignificant in comparison to the rest of the circle. You feel kindda
lost… you’re an insignificantly small part of a significantly greater thing… you’re not
really sure where to go from the center… you can move in any direction, but you don’t feel
like moving in any… maybe because there is no pathway… at the center, you can see in
all directions through the portals. And that’s where the students who died are from… their
portals point in the direction of their home. You can only experience this at the center… I
suppose that’s special… their death was significant… seeing the portals from the center,
reminds us of that…
Peoples’ Experiences of the Memorial as a whole:
Most of the visitors to the Memorial were either students or alumni. The time duration spent at the
Memorial (Tradition Plaza, History Walk, and Spirit Ring) ranged from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. In the month of
November, most people visited the Memorial on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the late afternoons, between
4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., except on the night of the anniversary of the Bonfire tragedy, when people gathered at
the Memorial by the hundreds after midnight.
Structured interviews showed that most people preferred visiting the Memorial after dark, when it was
lit up. Some related comments regarding the experience of the Memorial at night were (excerpts from separate
interviews):
... I really like to come here during twilight, or when it is dark… because of the lights...
It’s magical. It looks like the Memorial is built on fire…
… My friends told me things like… it’s a wonderful place at night…
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