Lunar New Year Celebrated

February 13, 2024

Lunar New Year was celebrated at CDH with many activities held throughout the week of February 5-9. The events were organized by Nan Wang, CDH World Language Teacher, and the Student Council.

Wang started off the week by hosting a potluck gathering in her Mandarin classroom. She also held sessions for origami and paper fan crafting. The week ended with music, poster decorating and a school-wide scavenger hunt featuring 200 red boxes filled with candies, embracing the Asian Lunar New Year tradition of "giving out Red Envelopes." This usually involves parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents placing money into a red envelope, which is then presented to their children on Lunar New Year Day as a symbol of good luck.

Lunar New Year is celebrated in Asia. Many countries in East Asia have this tradition for celebration, such as China, Vietnam, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Lunar New Year is the Lunar Calendar's January First.

In China, each year is associated with a Zodiac Animal sign. There are twelve animals, they rotate every year, and repeat every 12 years. Right now, it is the Year of Rabbit. Beginning this Saturday, February 10, it will be the Year of Dragon. This holiday is very important, because it symbolizes family reunion, love for younger generations and respect for the elderly. Traditionally, the color Red is a lucky color for Lunar New Year.