I have very fond memories of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Taiwan. The New Year markets, the red spring scrolls and lucky words, preparing the lunar New Year’s eve feast, games, stories, firecrackers, the red envelopes, relatives and friends visiting from near and far, and the holidays with the family all kick off the new year with a lot of excitement and joy. No wonder it is my favorite Chinese festival!
When we are not able to make it back to Taiwan for the lunar New Year with Chinese grandma and grandpa this becomes a time for me to review lunar New Year customs and traditions with my children, and to introduce them to their classmates. The first time I did my Chinese New Year presentation at a school was when my son was in preschool. It was a “show-and-tell” session. The children had fun checking out all the Chinese New Year decorations like spring scrolls, decorative Chinese knots, and red envelopes that I brought into the classroom. They were most curious about what was inside the red envelopes. I still remember eight cute 3-year-olds looking very intently inside a red envelope to find the dollar bills I put inside. They were thrilled to see the red dragon decoration hanging in the classroom. We sang a short version of the well-known “Gong Xi! Gong Xi!” (“Congratulations! Congratulations! ) song and put up red scrolls on the classroom door. The length of my presentation has grown as my kids have gotten older. When my children entered elementary school I designed a four-week Chinese New year cultural series with a dumpling-making activity as the highlight on the last day. I call it my “Chinese Culture Experience Day.”
This year in addition to the school programs, I am also presenting my series with various performances at the Manoa Public Library in Honolulu, Hawaii. I would like to thank Manoa Public Library for making this program available to children and families in the community.
For the first week we had an amazing Lion Dance performance with 5 lions roaming and dancing inside of the library. It was an incredible experience. I never imagined that I would see a traditional lion dance in a library not to mention with the loud sound of gongs and beats of the drums. Kids were thrilled and parents were amazed.
Last week we had a Chinese New Year Culture Day, children were able to see a Chinese calligraphy demonstration by the local LuCoral Museum, play with traditional Chinese toys for children like the “jian zi” (kicking sack), bamboo dragonfly, diabolo (Chinese yo-yo), Chinese chess, Chinese checkers, take the chopsticks challenge, try out calligraphy on their own with a traditional Chinese writing brush and make a Chinese new year scroll. It was an action-packed, fun day. A big Thank You goes to all the fantastic volunteers from the Taiwanese Students Association – UH Manoa & HPU and friends from the Chinese community.
This Saturday is the Chinese New Year’s Eve. I will be telling the story of the legendary “Nian” beast, and we are going to learn how to say the most important Chinese New Year lucky phrases in Mandarin Chinese. Our performance features a Chinese instrument, Yuen Qin and Miss Stacy Lu will perform for us. Our craft project is making a “little dragon” (snake) for this coming Year of the Snake! It is going to be another fun-filled session.
Manoa Public Library is giving away a snake-shaped lantern with light to one lucky participant every week during this series. Our special thanks go to Overseas Chinese Affairs Council, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Honolulu for all the traditional decorations and Year of the Snake lanterns. Happy Lunar New Year! Good health, happiness and good fortune in the Year of the Snake!
Here are the program flyers for this Saturday (February 9) and for Lantern Festival week (Saturday, February 23). If you can make it come and join Miss Panda for the Chinese New Year celebration!
This Saturday – February 9, 2013
Saturday – February 23, 2013
