Colton, CA—The Year of the Dragon has come to end and the Year of the Snake has begun. Ms. Yuh-Jen Lin and her Mandarin class are back, celebrating the new lunar year.
“We were there just to kind of bring the Chinese New Year spirit into Colton High School,” said Karol Vasquez, junior in Lin’s Chinese II class.
This year, Lunar New Year was celebrated over four days at Colton High, from Jan. 28-31.
To kick off this celebration on Jan. 28, Lin’s classes hosted five Chinese cultural stations in the Macintosh Gym where classes could come during second and fourth periods to partake in activities such as calligraphy, origami, and a chopstick race.
On the 29th during lunch the Chinese New Year Dragon made its annual appearance for the traditional Dragon Dance. As the beast soared through the lunch area in its shining yellow array, the marching students played “Gong Xi Fa Chi,” the traditional Chinese New Year song.
“A Dragon represents the royal family” says Ms Lin “…Like an emperor will protect us…so it’s a good animal, not how the West think of it.”
To finish the week of events, on Jan. 30-31 calligraphy and origami stations were held in the library during lunch.
Since joining Colton High’s staff for the 2021-2022 school year, Lin has made it a priority to honor Chinese tradition during its most important holiday. “I grew up celebrating Chinese New Year and I wanted to bring my childhood experience to the school… I want to keep the tradition,” said Lin about her efforts.
The lunar new year is celebrated by billions of people around the world to honor the first new moon of the calendar year. In the United States, it is commonly referred to as “Chinese New Year,” however as the number of east asian countries who celebrate the event are not Chinese in descent, it is more accurate to call it the “Lunar New Year.” The holiday is observed not just in east asian countries, but also in the Middle East and Canada.