KO held its annual Lunar New Year celebration on Friday, Feb. 12, organized by juniors Charles Zhao and David Shi along with members of the Asian Culture club.
The Lunar New Year celebration most famously takes place in China but is celebrated in other countries following the Lunar calendar as well. The Lunar New Year’s Eve is known for its reunion dinner, a time for families to spend time together at home. After, families sit down to watch the Gala TV show filled with singing, dancing, and performances until midnight. The display of fireworks and firecrackers have also become a tradition leading up to the new year. On New Year’s Day, children are gifted red envelopes filled with money, a sign of good luck.
At KO, students and faculty participated in an outfit competition based on the new year theme and a scavenger hunt intertwined with the popular Chinese game, Cai Deng Mi. Lunch featured Chinese food in the decorated dining hall, and students taking Chinese engaged in activities in their classes.
As presidents of the Asian Culture club, Charles and David began discussing plans for the event before Winter break. Planning took extra consideration this year as they worked out the logistics of what they could do to stay in line with pandemic guidelines. After getting their proposal approved by the Pandemic Response Team, they started their preparations for the big day.
Their first task: decorations. For this, Charles and David called in the help of Middle School Chinese teacher Jeff Gurganus and his students. Together, they helped decorate both the lower lobby in Roberts and the dining hall.
The next step was setting up the scavenger hunt. Since Cai Deng Mi is heavily language-based, Charles and David strived to keep the essence of the traditional game alive while translating the questions.
Members of the Student Government helped to hide red envelopes containing the clues around campus. Charles and David needed to be strategic in where they placed the envelopes. “I was thinking I should come up with a way to separate people out,” Charles said, “and just hiding the red envelopes in different places might be a good idea.” To accommodate remote students, the Marketing Team also aided in hiding questions online on @wyvernnation and the KO website.
Finally, the day of the event arrived. Before students headed into school, they chose their outfits with consideration hoping to be the lucky winner of the outfit competition. The student with the best Lunar New Year-themed outfit, such as wearing red or Chinese characters, was guaranteed a prize. To win, students had to post a picture of themselves on Instagram and tag @wyvernnation.
As soon as students arrived on campus, they started searching for red envelopes. If the school could find and answer 17/25 questions, those who gave a correct answer would receive a prize.
One student who correctly solved a clue in a red envelope was freshman Nicolas Tippner who ran into his clue by accident. “Funnily enough, I actually didn’t mean to find it,” he said. “We were walking along the corridor, and there was another group passing, so we walked more closely to the side, and I looked into the poster and it fell out.”
His clue read, “It works hard all its life, counting numbers day and night, but never gets past 12. What is it?” The answer: A clock.
He brought his envelope to his advisor, Director of Equity Joan Edwards, and the group worked together to solve the clue.
Nicolas said he enjoyed the scavenger hunt because it added a competitive layer to the day. Dean of Students Krista Sahrbeck agreed. “I love that they made it interactive with the scavenger hunt and the game, for kids to kind of get more excited about it than just listen to the video,” she said.
KO managed to find all of the clues and answer 19 correctly. Prizes included an unknown red envelope and a postcard. 70% of the red envelopes held a surprise Chinese bookmark in them along with candy.
For advisee group, the Asian Culture club organized a virtual assembly where students watched a video about the origins of the Lunar New Year.
The story told the legend of the monster, Nian, meaning year. Each new year, Nian terrorized Chinese villages until finally an old man informed the community that Nian was afraid of three things: red, loud noises, bright lights. The people used these to scare Nian away, forming the tradition of the new year still celebrated today. Students said they enjoyed the opportunity to learn more of what is behind the celebration of the Lunar New Year.
After one more class, students excitedly walked into the dining hall ready to enjoy food prepared by the dining staff. The menu featured different items like Char Siu (Chinese roast pork), sticky rice, stir fried baby bok choy, and, of course, fortune cookies.
Chinese classes incorporated the holiday into their curriculum as well. Chinese 2 students conducted research projects learning about different traditions and celebrations that take place in China. They also learned the popular new year song, “Bai Nian,” and sang it together as a class. In the Middle School, students did a cut-out paper craft, a popular form of Chinese art around the new year.
Many students and faculty said they enjoyed the exposure to another culture. “There are many different people that are of different backgrounds and ethnicities, and I love learning more about something that is special to them,” Nicholas said. “Especially now during these times, it’s good to know people in a more personal way and experience new and interesting traditions.”
Ms. Sahrbeck agreed and added that KO should look to celebrate our diverse community more in the future. “I think it’s one step further for more inclusivity, more tolerance, more understanding,” she said. “And that’s kind of why I like bringing those to the forefront is that I think, the more we know about each other, I think the more just the better off the community is going to be moving forward.”
Ms. Sahrbeck went on to note that this celebration should be an example for other students who want to plan something of their own. She highlighted the importance of starting the planning process early and collaborating with an adult. Next year, Charles hopes to hold a more traditional gathering so the community can ring in the new year together. “For next year’s celebration,” he said, “I hope the pandemic will be over, so we can hold more engaging and more authentic celebrations.”
