Joy, happiness and prosperity thrived in the Reid Ballroom Saturday, Feb. 7 with the Lunar New Year Celebration. Children sang good wishes, Vietnamese fans danced in unison, a Chinese yo-yo soared through the air and two lions paraded down the aisles.
Asian Cultural Awareness (ACA), Campus Activities Board (CAB), and the Vietnamese Cultural Club (VCC) sponsored the event, which has plans to become an annual tradition. The audience included community members in addition to Whitman Students, and excited children kept up the air of wonder.
Goals of the sponsors included raising awareness not only about traditional celebrations, but also about the diversity of cultures that enjoy the holiday.
“We want to emphasize that the Lunar New Year is not just Chinese,” said sophomore and emcee Lauralee Woods. “Other countries that celebrate it include, but are not limited to, Vietnam, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia and Korea.”
As is cultural tradition, children began the festivities. The Chinese Children’s Chorus, all dressed in silk, sang a song, held up a banner of good wishes and elicited chuckles from the crowd. Florian Deredec did tricks with a Chinese Yo-yo, also known as a ‘Diablo,’ and the VCC put on a traditional fan dance.
The main event of the night was the Lieu Quan Dance Team, a Seattle-based group that performed the traditional Lion Dance among the music of drums and percussion.
“It is believed in the Asian Lunar New Year that whatever happens to you in the first three days will be repeated throughout the year,” said the dance instructor.
The lions in the Lion Dance are each made up of two dancers: one acting as the head and front legs of the lion and the other leaning over as the hind legs. The lion costume is highly stylized and decorated with white fur, colorful paint and glitter. The lions’ eyes, ears and mouth all open and close, making them lifelike and allowing them to give out candy, pretend to eat children and chomp on offerings of lettuce. A monk in a smiling mask accompanied the lions, playing with them and encouraging children in the audience to pet their padded bellys. The dancers range in age from 10 to 20.
After the performance, the instructor of the team explained the legend on which the performance was based. The story was about a small town that was attacked every new year by a lion that terrorized the people and destroyed the crops. A monk saved the town by teaching the people to scare it away with loud noises of pots and pans and then chasing the retreating lion up the mountain to tame it. The tamed lion came to represent joy, happiness and prosperity, and continues to come every Lunar New Year to bless and protect.
