By Sade Goodridge
mail@floridanewsline.com
Xīn Nián Kuài Lè! Happy New Year from Ponte Vedra High School and Landrum Middle School! For the past month, both schools have participated in Lunar New Year — the Year of the Tiger — through events such as learning the discipline of Tai Chi and writing Chinese couplets. Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is celebrated on the first day of the lunar calendar. Since the lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, the dates of this holiday vary between January 21 and February 20 in Western calendars. This year, Lunar New Year fell on February 1, 2022. Lunar New Year is celebrated by China, Vietnam, Korea, and Singapore, to list a few.
Celebrating Lunar New Year comes with many traditions such as thoroughly cleaning one’s house approximately 10 days before the Lunar New Year to remove any lingering bad luck. On New Year’s Day, family members receive “red envelopes,” or hóngbāo. Throughout the 15-day celebration, the days are marked with dances and fireworks, and culminate in the Lantern Festival, celebrated on the last day of Lunar New Year. On this night, lanterns are lit, and traditional foods such as yuánxiāo (sticky rice), yusheng (raw fish), and vegetable salad are eaten.
The origins of the Lunar New Year are thousands of years old and infused with legends. The most popular origin story is that Nian, an ancient monster, attacked thousands of villagers at the beginning of each new year. An old man, learning that Nian was afraid of loud noises and the color red, successfully scared away the monster by pasting red papers to the door (Chinese couplets), burning bamboo to make loud cracking noises (fireworks), and wearing red clothes. Once the villagers returned from fleeing, they were amazed to see that their village had not been destroyed.
The schools’ celebrations began by learning the discipline of Tai Chi, or Taiji, by a Tai Chi master, Kam Lee. The Taiji event was hosted by the National Chinese Honor Society and open to the entire school. In the Taiji event, students learned the basics of Tai Chi, which emphasizes constant movement in a slow, focused manner. Students also created a human chain by connecting their shoulders, knees, and arms to explain the importance of harmony.
Next, students wrote Chinese couplets, which are a pair of lines of poetry to bring good luck and fortune. These strips of paper are typically hung on the sides of doors leading to people’s homes or as hanging scrolls inside the homes. Then, students presented projects of the 12 Chinese zodiacs, about Chinese provinces, or cities.
On February 1, students celebrated Lunar New Year with homemade food, laughter, and hóngbāo. Hóngbāo, also known as red pockets, are monetary gifts given to family members. Hóngbāos are given by elders as tokens of good luck and are received by children with both hands as a sign of respect.
Chinese paper cutting is a traditional folk-art form done by many individuals to symbolize good luck. These are often used to decorate doors and windows. The students this year cut out an image of a tiger.
Sade Goodridge is a student at Ponte Vedra High School.
Photo courtesy Yan Li
Students writing Chinese couplets.
