AZJA FARABEE
staff reporter
collegian.editor@tccd.edu
SE Campus turned red with an event to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The Student Government Association hosted the event at the ESCT building on Feb. 8. SE student and SGA member Oforitsenere Bodunrin greeted attendees as they walked through the door.
Though Bodunrin does not personally celebrate the Lunar New Year, she enjoys watching her friends participate in the holiday.
“I would be there while they’re celebrating,” Bodunrin said. “It is just a fun, nice thing to see. very colorful and fun.”
The Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, is an annual event celebrated by China and various Southeast countries over the course of two weeks. Each year corresponds with a different animal, and this year’s zodiac sign is the dragon.
“The dragon is a symbol of power, starting new beginnings,” SE student development associate Alex Searsy said. “Good luck, joy, prosperity, and the New Year.”
The holiday is celebrated with family and friends getting together to have meals and exchange red envelopes. Red envelopes are given to relatives and contain money to wish the recipient good luck on the new year. SE student Ron Cuanang describes the amount of money differing from each family member.
The Lunar New Year Celebration offered foods, such as egg rolls, fried rice, herbal teas and almond cookies. Traditionally, families will celebrate by eating round foods because it symbolizes wealth and fullness.
“We eat loads of round foods and moon cake,” Cuanang said. “I mostly remember deserts.”
Families who celebrate while living in smaller communities will go to Asian centered hubs to join the festivities and be able to honor the Lunar New Year with others, where additionally there are food vendors, entertainment and live dragon dances.
In Vietnam, Tam Ho, SE Student and Senate Chair for the SGA, mentions they have the week off from school to go home and catch up with family and wish them luck for the new year.
“On the first days we have traditional food we eat,” Ho says. “In the afternoon, we go to family’s house. We just say hey and talk to them then we play board games.”
Searsy says that they did their best to stay true to the culture by having Chinese and Vietnamese students come in as consultants for the event and asked them questions to gain insight on how families who celebrate to share some familiarity with the other students.
“They get to share their culture with students from everywhere, and they get to participate as well. So it’s really fun, everybody learns about everyone’s culture,” Searsy said.
