Academy Celebrates Lunar New Year on Campus

By  CARLY CANSECO, JILLIAN CHENG, and JADE  Y OO

Every year, many Eastern and Southeastern Asian communities gather to celebrate one of the biggest holidays — Lunar New Year. Usually, these events pertain to large family meals, the exchange of red envelopes, lion dancing, and more. Exeter recently hosted a Lunar New Year event in Elm Street Dining Hall, welcoming all students to enjoy a lion dance and cultural Asian foods. The dining hall was adorned with red lanterns and stickers, and posters stuck to the walls describing different Asian traditions. Gone were the baked ziti, cheese pan pizza, and steamed broccoli, replaced with traditional foods from all parts of Asia. As more students flooded in from classes, more students packed by tables of treats, and the lines only grew.

Before coming to Exeter, international Exonians had many different ways of celebrating New Year’s. “Back home we had fireworks. And we would also watch a TV show together specific to the New Year,” lower Wayne Zheng recalled New Year celebrations in Shanghai. 

“Usually, I would go back to my grandparents’ house to celebrate,” prep Oscar Zhu said. “We would meet with a lot of different relatives and have big dinners with the whole family. We would also put up a lot of decorations that symbolize good luck in the new year.”

While not everyone at Exeter celebrates Lunar New Year, the holiday holds a special place in many students’ memories. Senior Alaysha Zhang recalled, “When I lived in China, you had a lot of days off for Chinese New Year, and then you also got to go home and celebrate with your family and make your own food.” 

Exeter attempted to achieve the same homemade food effect by serving handmade dumplings for the New Year celebrations. “Two weeks before the dinner, a group of parents came to campus and hand-made 6,000 dumplings for the dinner,” explained Asian Student Coordinator Kerrie Tinsley-Stribling. The dumpling-making event was also open to any students who wished to participate. “I think that it was really nice that this year they opened up the dumpling-making to the students, because I know in past years, it’s always been parent volunteers and teachers and whatnot,” Zhang said. “And I think that brought more of a home feel to Lunar New Year.” 

However, some students expressed some constructive criticism of the event. “I was able to participate in the dumpling making, but [it] didn’t feel the same because it felt more like I was just completing the task of dumpling making than actually making dumplings with my family,” prep Angelina Wang said.

“I think maybe they could have asked the Asian affinity clubs who celebrate Lunar New Year and then used student input more,” prep Hanna Wei said. “It wasn’t personalized to most students.” 

On the other hand, Tinsley-Stribling stated, “In order to appropriately and accurately incorporate Asian culture into the Lunar New Year celebration, it was important to recognize and respect the diverse customs and traditions observed in different parts of Asia.”

At Exeter, it is difficult for some to stay connected to their culture since they are so far away from home. For boarding students, home might be an hour away, or even a fourteen-hour flight. “Sometimes, for smaller traditions and events I feel left disconnected, but for Lunar New Year, it was better,” Wei said. 

Tinsley discussed the importance of culture at Exeter. “I think celebrating culture is integral to any educational environment, but is especially important here at PEA where we have a microcosm of diversity in a predominantly white area.” 

Zheng shared the efforts his friends made to celebrate the Lunar New Year, “In Chinese culture, we put up a huge red poster on the doors during Chinese New Year symbolizing good luck. My friend Logan made some in Chinese class, and he put it on his door as an effort to celebrate with us.” Faculty and students alike have contributed to the Lunar New Year festivities this past weekend.

In the student body, the Asian Advisory Board was also involved in the organization of the event, and they made sure the Elm Lunar New Year celebration was a step up from last year. “There’s a lot more intentionality that came with the way we orient our design of the space. The devil’s in the details, right?” Senior Nhan Phan, a member of the Asian Advisory Board, explained. “Something that we’ve always wanted to do was a dragon dancing performance where we would hire an external company to help us stage a performance.”

  Another change from last year’s event was the translation of food items on the menu. “If you notice on the food labels, we even include translations in the different languages of the countries that celebrate Lunar New Year: Korean and Chinese simplified and traditional Vietnamese, Korean, and Thai. Small details like that help to make this occasion that much more special and accessible to students here, especially international students or students that have heritage and roots within those cultures that are unable to be home celebrated this time of year,” Phan shared. 

Many students had a positive experience at the event. “I liked the options of food that the dining hall served, as well as the various Asian desserts and drinks. They reminded me of home and snacks from the Asian grocery stores my parents used to buy when I was little – it was nostalgic,” said senior Catherine Wu. 

She also shared her favorite part of the event. “The highlight of this year’s celebration for me was definitely the lion dance performance. It was so nice to see something from Chinese culture in the festival, and the performers were super energetic while interacting with the audience.”

There was a lot done in the process of setting up the event. Tinsley was aiming to set up the event “… to provide a platform for students to share their cultures with the entire community, fostering a sense of inclusion and understanding.” She received help with the logistical coordination of the event from the Asian Advisory Board, [her] colleagues at OMA and Student Activities, as well as from the Dining Hall staff and Facilities. She expressed that “the challenge every year is coordinating schedules because there are so many parts to putting on the dinner. Another challenge … face[d] is finding ways to make the celebration at least somewhat distinctive from previous years.” 

The orgnaizers recognized and respected the diversity of Asian celebrations of the New Year. Tinsley-Stribling noted that “For instance, China celebrates the Lunar New Year as the Spring Festival, while in Korea it is known as Seollal, and in Vietnam, it is celebrated as Tet. By acknowledging these variations, [they] tr[ied] to ensure that our Lunar New Year festivities are inclusive and authentic representations of Asian culture.” 

“Moreover, reaching out to families who may want to share a taste of home with their students can be a great way to enhance the experience. [The] call for contributions resulted in an overwhelming response, with more than 200 pounds of snacks and treats from all over Asia being sent in. This generous selection of goodies was shared with the community, in hopes of fostering cultural understanding and appreciation during the festive season,” she said. 

Overall, the Lunar New Year was a success. A lot of careful planning went into the execution and organization of the event, leading to an enjoyable and meaningful celebration that the Exeter community enjoyed. This event was very insightful on various elements of different Asian cultures, and it was inspirational to see all of them included in an event that brings such awareness, knowledge, and entertainment to our community.