While slithering into the Lunar New Year, Ohio University student organizations brought together and unified communities to celebrate the Year of the Snake. Lunar New Year, also known as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is one of the most significant holidays celebrated across East and Southeast Asia.
At OU, the Lunar New Year celebration, organized by the Center for Student Engagement and Leadership, the International Student Union, the Asian American Pacific Islander Student Union and the Chinese Language Student Association, brought a piece of this rich cultural heritage to the university Sunday. The event, held in Walter Hall, included traditional performances, a shared meal and activities that highlighted the significance of Lunar New Year and its values of family, community and renewal.
The roots of Lunar New Year
With its origins in China, Lunar New Year is celebrated in several countries throughout East and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Although different countries have slightly different customs, the core values and traditions of the holiday are remarkably similar. Lunar New Year marks the start of the lunar calendar year, which typically falls between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. It is an occasion for families to reunite, communities to come together and people to honor their ancestors.
The celebration spans 15 days, starting on New Year’s Eve, which is dedicated to family reunions, and ends with the Lantern Festival. The holiday is rich in symbolism, including iconic colors, foods and activities that each represent something meaningful for the year ahead.
The Year of the Snake
This year is the Year of the Snake, one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. People born under this sign are often associated with wisdom, intuition and elegance. Snakes are believed to possess deep insights, with an ability to analyze situations and understand complex ideas. Individuals born in the Year of the Snake are often seen as introspective, perceptive and intelligent, though they may also be reserved and mysterious. The Year of the Snake promises qualities of charm and charisma, with an emphasis on reflection and personal growth.
The Year of the Snake is not just a time for individual reflection; it is also a time for communities to reflect on their shared hopes for the coming year, to embrace the qualities of intelligence and wisdom and to seek guidance in how to approach the challenges ahead.
The Dragon Dance
OU’s Lunar New Year celebration kicked off with a Dragon Dance, one of the most widely recognized traditions of the holiday. In Chinese culture, the dragon symbolizes strength, power and good fortune. The dance is a group effort, with multiple performers manipulating a long, colorful dragon costume on poles, weaving and undulating in a fluid, rhythmic motion. The performers move in sync with the beat of drums, while firecrackers are set off to ward off evil spirits and bring in prosperity for the new year.
This lively and energetic performance was not just a cultural spectacle, it was also a display of unity. For many students, it was a meaningful way to connect with their heritage while sharing a piece of this cultural tradition with each other.
Sima Wang, a Ph.D student from China studying mass communication, said he was inspired to get involved in the Lunar New Year celebration on campus because he wanted to share parts of his culture with Athens residents.
“I think the most important thing is that I really want to share something with people from all around the world because I think Chinese culture is pretty rich, and I think it's quite interesting,” Wang said. “There are so many things to see, not only traditional but also very modern content. So I think this (celebration) is a good way to showcase my culture.”
"Love Song of Kangding" and "Rippling Brook"
Following the Dragon Dance, "Love Song of Kangding,” a folk song with deep emotional and cultural resonance, and “Rippling Brook” were both performed by the Chinese Language Student Association. During the Lunar New Year, which is a time of family gatherings and celebration, playing such songs can bring people together and stir shared memories of home and heritage.
Nathan Kallet, a sophomore studying international business and minoring in Chinese, performed the song alongside members of his class. Kallet said the performance allowed him to showcase the skills he learned in class to his mom, who speaks the language.
“My mom is from Taiwan and it was fun to perform and talk about the new year in front of her and her friends,” Kallet wrote in an email. “I find that it’s really nice to be able to give respect to my mom’s culture.”
The Shared Meal
No Lunar New Year celebration would be complete without a shared meal At OU, this meal was one of the most important parts of the event. It is a longstanding tradition during Lunar New Year to enjoy a feast with loved ones, as the holiday places a strong emphasis on family and unity. The shared meal was an opportunity for students, faculty and Athens locals to celebrate in the spirit of togetherness.
The meal included symbolic dishes such as longevity noodles, broccoli and oranges. Each dish was carefully chosen for its symbolic meaning. Longevity noodles, for example, are a traditional food eaten during Lunar New Year, representing a wish for a long life and good health. The long, unbroken strands of the noodles symbolize a long, prosperous future and many families make a wish as they eat them. Similarly, oranges are often associated with fullness, while dumplings symbolize abundance and wealth.
Yi-Ting Wang, the adviser for the OU Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Union and organizer of the Lunar New Year celebration at OU, said it was important for the event to focus on community and shared meals.
“Chinese New Year is a time when people sit down together and share food,” Wang said. “So we're very excited that with the support of CESL, ISU and AAPISU, we were able to put this event together.”
Liang Tao, a professor of linguistics and Chinese coordinator at OU, said the shared meal is the most important aspect to the Lunar New Year. The festival’s emphasis on unity resembles gatherings similar to Christmas in the U.S. where “all family members come home from far away and they would visit each other.”
“On the New Year's Eve, (families) have a family dinner together, that's unity,” Tao said. “It's also set up to enhance bonding with the community, remember(ing) the younger days, that’s the way different villages from different parts of the region come together to celebrate.”
The red envelopes
Another key tradition of Lunar New Year is the giving of red envelopes. These red envelopes, typically containing money, are given to children, younger family members and sometimes friends as a gesture of good luck and prosperity for the year ahead. The color red is significant because it symbolizes luck and the warding off of evil spirits.
“Whenever we arrive, my grandma gives me a red envelope of money that contains the amount for two years,” Kallet wrote in an email. “But it means more than that for me– it’s family that I rarely get to see–so I want to cherish those moments together.”
At the OU celebration, red envelopes were part of the overall festivities, reminding everyone of the importance of sharing blessings and good fortune. The envelopes were displayed on tables, allowing guests to take in their significance as a cultural gesture.
Calligraphy blessings
Attendees of the Lunar New Year Celebration also had the opportunity to write their own calligraphy blessings. Several tables were set up where celebration-goers could create Chinese calligraphy by writing auspicious phrases and symbols on red paper, a traditional Lunar New Year practice. These calligraphy pieces often featured phrases wishing good fortune and luck and are believed to bring prosperity and happiness in the year ahead.
The Fan Dance
The Fan Dance, a traditional performance often featured during Lunar New Year celebrations, is a captivating and graceful display showcasing both beauty and skill. In this dance, performers use long, colorful silk fans which are twirled and manipulated in synchrony to create intricate and fluid movements. The fans are not just props; they are extensions of the dancers’ bodies, enhancing the flow and rhythm of the performance.
Emma Ellifritz, a sophomore studying linguistics and the organizer of the closing Fan Dance, said helping with the event allowed her to see how much effort and meaning went into it.
“Through the process of helping with the event, I got to see how much work gets put into it, and how much meaning and how lovely it all was,” Ellifritz said. “It was great to be able to share that with the wider community, with our university and outside of it.”
The Lunar New Year celebration at OU not only showcased the rich cultural traditions of the holiday, but also emphasized the importance of building connections within the broader community. Yi-Ting Wang said fostering community was central to the event’s purpose.
“I think building community is a very important part connecting our Chinese language students with the Athenian Chinese community,” Wang said. “We're glad to bring more multicultural events for students on campus, because it's not just for our students.”
