On Wednesday February 2nd, almost 85 students attended the Chinese and Korean New Year event presented by the Asian Club and Multicultural Society. Students celebrated in the first floor lounge of Woodland Hall Three.
The celebrations at Old Westbury continued on Thursday February 3rd in the Campus Center. Over 100 students lined up to have Asian foods, bringing in the Year of the Rabbit.
According to The Justice, the Independent Student Newspaper of Brandeis University, “the year of the rabbit will bring peace and tranquility, a relief from the many struggles…”
The Asian Club put a lot of work into the events. “We spent weeks preparing. We spent hours decorating.”, said Sophia Yu, treasurer of the Asian Club.
Feedback from the attendees proved it was worth all the work. Student Johnathan Murray claimed that “The Asian Club is one of the best clubs on campus.”
Students who attended the Chinese and Korean New Year’s celebration enjoyed different parts of the night. Jennifer Tsuchie’s favorite part of the night was “the candy”; Sean Dyson enjoyed “the food and the atmosphere” the most; and, Jonathan Murray’s favorite part of the evening was “getting the gifts.”
These things are all big parts of the traditions celebrated on the Chinese and Korean New Year’s Day. Sophia Yu said about her family’s traditions, “Every New Year’s we’d eat a lot of candy.”
Some of the foods eaten on Chinese and Korean New Year include rice cake soup and a sticky dough. “Koreans have their own traditional food; it’s called Duk Gook. It’s like rice cake soup. Each bowl symbolizes each year you turn. You’re supposed to have one bowl, so you can turn one year older.”, explained Elizabeth Han, President of the Asian Club.
Sophia Yu described the importance of food in China for the holiday, “We would eat traditional foods. Every food would symbolize something, like we would eat this Nian Gao. It’s this sticky dough and it stands for family sticks together.”
According to the Suffolk University Website, Chinese and Korean New Year is also known as the Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival.
Dr. Jingyi Song, one of SUNY Old Westbury’s history professors, described Chinese Spring Festival, “People simply believe to eat a lot of food because spring is the first day of the whole year. We are expecting harvest from the very beginning. Chinese New Year is called spring festival. We need to get ready to plow our field and get ready for the autumn harvest…”
Elizabeth Han explained some of the Korean traditions, “The first things you do is bow to the elders and say Happy New Year as a respect. They’ll give us money after we’re done. They’ll say I hope you do well in your studies and give us goals to keep up throughout the year.”
Sophia Yu, described some of the Chinese traditions, “Chinese people give out money in red envelopes. In China, we usually wake up early in the morning. The first thing we would do is say Happy Chinese New Year and something lucky to our parents and then they would give us red envelopes filled with money.”
Dr. Jingyi Song explained the meaning of the red envelopes, “People usually get red because…red means flourishing and happy.”
Elizabeth Han described some of the event’s giveaways, “Every envelope is decorated with a bunny on it and then inside there’s a chocolate coin and an ancient Asian coin.”
Sophia Yu informed guests about the Asian New Year’s superstitions, “We can’t wash our hair because we’re washing away our luck. We can’t sweep because we’re sweeping away our luck. We have to leave our doors open, so good luck can come in. We can’t curse or watch any violent movies; because, it’s like you’re bringing in fear. The word nine is good luck because it stands for long life.”
The Suffolk University Website documents that, “The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. The Chinese animal signs are a 12-year cycle used for dating the years.”
Professor Jingyi Song said that for Chinese, the Spring Festival is as big as Christmas is in the United States. Sophia Yu explained, “It’s the biggest holiday we ever have.”