Culture Society Celebrates Chinese New Year

On January 21st and February 11th, the Culture Society at North High School hosted an event in celebration of Chinese New Year. In the event, we had two members of the Culture Society who celebrate Chinese New Year, Lucy Wu and Elaine Ching teach us about the various traditions and characteristics about Chinese New Year. From the presentations they prepared, we learned about what Chinese New Year was, festive decorations, traditional dishes, Chinese sayings, and the Chinese Zodiac. Along with learning about the traditions of Chinese New Year, we also had two fun little arts and crafts activities. Lucy taught us how to make Chinese New Year lanterns, and Elaine taught us how to make Origami Oxen, since 2021 is the year of the Ox.

Some of the festive decorations that used in Chinese New Year are lanterns, firecrackers, and red envelopes, which children receive money in. The red envelopes are meant as a blessing and sign of good luck. Chinese New Year is also celebrated in many Asian countries besides China and is based upon the Lunar Calendar and cycle of the moon. Unlike western zodiacs, Chinese zodiacs are based upon the year rather than the month. When you celebrate Chinese New Year, you get together with your family and eat a big meal together. Also, it is a tradition to wear red to scare away bad luck.

One of our fellow members of the Culture Society, Cody Sung, shared his thoughts and opinion about the event. “I think the event was very fun and educational! Especially the origami ox. I made a pretty good ox. All the information is on par, at least to my knowledge. I think everyone had a great time and I hope to do more events like this!”

Personally, I agree with Cody! The event was very entertaining and educational, and the arts and crafts part of the event was my favorite. I had a great time, and I also hope for more events like this. If you want to participate in events like this, join the Culture Society on Teams by clicking the link.