A second New Year has cycled around on January 29th, known as the Lunar New Year. Expressed as a national Chinese tradition that means a great deal to their culture, this year’s cycle is known as the year of the snake. For many in the Marriotts Ridge community, it is a day marked with celebrating the joy of unity as MRHS hosted their very own Lunar New Years festival.
The Chinese New Year is a huge celebration in Chinese culture that commemorates the beginning of a new year based on the lunisolar calendar. Those who celebrate the holiday may partake in several traditional activities that carry symbolic meaning in Chinese culture. Among these activities are the sweeping of dust, a symbol of sweeping away bad luck in order to welcome the good luck of the new year; exchanging red envelopes, the color red signifying prosperity and wealth; and setting off firecrackers as a way of warding off evil spirits.
Along with these festive activities to celebrate the new year, many Chinese families will eat traditional Chinese dishes that symbolize different wishes for the new year. Many of these dishes were included in the MRHS Chinese New Years festival.
“We served authentic Chinese dishes, we did some catering and some [of the food was] from the parents association. [Some of the food that was served] was traditional Chinese dumplings, Chinese fried rice and stir fried noodles,” stated Chinese teacher Mrs. Liu.
The festival was created with the help of the Mount View Middle School Chinese class, taught by Mrs. Chao, the Chinese Honor Society, and the Chinese club. Additionally, there were many volunteers from the National Honor Society, as well as younger student performers from schools such as Long Reach high school.
“I know the middle school Chinese teacher, their class and the honor societies have been putting countless hours into the [stations] and making sure all the students who run the stations know what they’re doing,” stated Mrs. Liu
The festival was created by many different groups of people, some having to stay long nights at the school in order to make sure everything was top-notch. One of the highlights of the festival was the performances which took a lot of time and effort for the students to prepare.
“[My favorite part of the festival] has got to be the performances, they were all very unique and I could tell everyone was trying their best to make them, practice them and do their best. So I liked that people were able to come together with others and their friends even when it’s optional,” remarked junior John Matthai.
A popular custom that was incorporated into the festival was the popular usage of red, which was thought to be an auspicious color due to it sounding similar to the Chinese word for ‘prosperous,’ red is also a cultural emblem of joy and believed to have the ability to scare away maleficent spirits. Many New Year traditions follow this custom, including the wearing of new red garments, firecrackers rolled up in red paper, hanging red paper lanterns and decorating doors and windows with red paper cut-outs. However, arguably the most recognizable tradition is the passing out of red envelopes from married couples and the elderly to their children or juniors, which would contain money and symbolize good wishes and luck for the new year ahead. The MRHS Chinese New Years festival represented this using a prize drawing activity where one of the rewards was a red envelope along with various other prizes.
“I thought [the prize drawing activity] was really creative to be honest and I liked the Chinese trivia,” stated Junior Jack Musselwhite
The Chinese New Year has traditionally been a time for reunion and welcoming the future, but even though not every family recognizes or celebrates the holiday, it is important to put aside time to spend with loved ones while they are still here. With all the uncertainties that the future holds, it is important to remember to take it all in stride, count the blessings given and move forward, even if a few good luck rituals need to be done to help that. Many students wondered if the Lunar New years festival would be held again next year, to which a response was given.
“Yes, definitely looking forward to doing it again,” exclaimed Mrs. Liu.
The MRHS Lunar New Years Festival also brought together the large local communities of the different schools in the area. All of the different traditions and activities could be experienced by mixes of high school, middle school and elementary school students. Whether it was helping create certain stations or dancing during the performance, this festival brought together the community to enjoy this sensational, snakey new year that is the first of many future MRHS Lunar New Year celebrations.