Chinese New Year took place this year on January 29. This exciting event is important in Chinese culture and there are many traditions that go along with it. Lots of people celebrate similarly, but there are also aspects of it that are different in every family. Let’s take a look at how the Chinese students at South celebrate it!
Senior Ethan Pan said, “First, we decorate our house with a lot of Chinese festive decorations. We have red banners, red paper decorations, and red hanging decorations. Red is a big part of our culture so it is important to have so much of it. In addition to these decorations, we have red envelopes prepared, usually with money to gift for good luck to others. We also wear lots of red, sometimes even traditional Chinese clothing to celebrate our culture. When Chinese New Year Eve comes, we invite lots of family and family friends, Chinese or not, to celebrate with us. To accommodate all these guests, we usually buy and prepare a lot of food by ourselves. My family has a strong emphasis on cooking so instead of buying lots of food from restaurants, we cook it ourselves. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, with all of our guests, we usually stay up to celebrate past midnight. It’s just like other New Year’s celebrations where people would stay up past midnight.”
Senior Kelly Lin said, “My whole family meets at my grandma’s and we usually do most of the cooking there. We always have a lot of food, some of which are my aunt’s homemade fried egg rolls and my grandma’s Vietnamese banana or coconut dessert (che chuoi). The night is spent playing games, eating, and karaoke with the elders. In the midst of all that is when the elders usually bring out the red envelopes which are filled with cash that they give to all the kids and in return we say phrases to them in Chinese which mean good fortune, health, and happiness. For the new year. A lot of what we do is part of my family’s belief in superstitions, so for the days leading up to the new year we spent a majority of our time cleaning the house, cars, and work spaces which makes way for good luck to come in for the new year.
Lastly, Freshman Amanda Chen adds “I have a big dinner with my family and my grandparents. We also go out and go to our relatives’ houses and receive red envelopes. We dress up in traditional clothes and eat a lot of mooncakes.¨
While everyone has different traditions in how they celebrate Lunar New Year, the spirit and excitement is always is same!
