I celebrate Lunar New Year with my family. Every Lunar New Year we eat hot pot. The table is filled with different foods ranging from everything to meat, vegetables, and even mushrooms all set up on a giant table. We each grab whatever we desire to eat and bring it to the steaming hot pot using our chopsticks. The food cooks surprisingly fast, so we don’t have to wait hungrily. After a few seconds, we bring the food into the bowls placed in front of us. Once we finished feasting my brother and I receive money packed in red envelopes.
— Yifan, Julia R. Masterman, Philadelphia, PA
My family burns bamboo sticks and places them all over the house to scare away evil spirits and to signal a safe and happy new year. After that, there´s a big feast laid out for our ancestors to eat first and we pray to our ancestors 3 times. After each time we pray, I pour rice wine into their cups. After we are done praying we begin to eat. After we eat all of the adults pass out red envelopes that are filled with money inside to everyone.
— Vincent, Julia R. Masterman School
I’m Vietnamese, so celebrating Lunar New Year is traditional for me and my family. Usually on this day, everyone would wear red and yellow. My mom starts off by placing huge plates of fruit and water for Buddha——we give out our blessings and prayers. Then, me and my family change into our traditional Vietnamese new year clothes and head to a family party.
— Kelly, Glen Ellyn, Glenbard West
On the morning of Chinese New Year I send messages saying Happy Chinese New Year to friends and family. Then we clean the house and get rid of the old stuff and buy some new things. Sometimes we go watch the festivals that are happening in Chinatown. Some of my family are in China so we have a video chat to wish them a happy Chinese New Year. We party with family and friends and stay together until night time.
— Liang, Julia R. Masterman, Philadelphia, PA
Up until my freshman year of high school, I was not educated about the Lunar New Year. However, my freshman year I started taking Mandarin and since then, I’ve been able to better understand Asian culture. Every year around the Lunar New Year my teacher, better known as 老师, teaches us unique lesson(s) about specific customs, traditions, activities and food enjoyed during this time of year. Additionally, my classmates and I are required to make presentations that are shared with the class. Although I do not celebrate the Lunar New Year, I am very grateful to learn about it!
— Ashley, Glenbard West High School, Glen Ellyn, IL
I personally don’t celebrate the Lunar Year, but I know that it’s a new year in many Asian countries and it’s fascinating to see them celebrate it. I was interested to see what year I was born in and it turns out that it was the Year of the Rooster. I’m not entirely sure how people developed this calendar, but I know that we Muslims also follow a lunar calendar that’s different from this one. Our lunar calendar started after our Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Madinah, and for us this is the year 1444. I think it’s really cool how different cultures and places have different traditions and practices they follow. Beyond that, it’s really interesting to see how everyone stays true to their beliefs and celebrates their holidays in their own ways.
— Arisha, Glenbard West High School, Glen Ellyn, IL
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