This spring, the Vietnamese Students Association (VSA) and the Chinese Culture Club (CCC) collaborated to organize the Lunar New Year Festival celebration, which came to a success on Friday, February 22nd, 2019.

The celebration took place from 6 to 8 p.m. in Alumni Hall with the attendance of over 200 Gusties.

The festival features cultural info-sessions, trivia questions and prizes, performances from both students and professionals, boba tea, and other Asian delicacies for dinner.

The event opened its doors at 5:45 p.m, with lucky envelopes handed out at the reception table. These envelopes come in many colors, but traditionally red.

Containing a chocolate coin, each of these envelopes symbolized a wish for good luck and wealth for the new year to come.

Coming to the venue, on the left side of the entrance, were carts of boba tea. Volunteers from the student organizations has carefully brewed the tea and boiled the bubbles for his phenomenal beverage. VSA and CCC not only managed to bring this symbol of Asian pop culture to campus but also had multiple flavors to attendees’ liking: black tea, mango black tea, blueberry black tea, black milk tea, and Thai milk tea. All came with chewy bobas.

The show started at 6:15 p.m. with the MCs briefly introducing the Lunar New Year and its significance to multiple communities that celebrate this holiday worldwide.

“The Lunar New Year is a major celebration in China and Vietnam. Yet it means new year not only for Chinese and Vietnamese, but also for the peoples from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, and many other Asian countries,”  sophomore Kaitlyn Gruber, one of the emcees for the night, said.

Often known as the Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year is actually celebrated within many other countries and communities.

It marks the beginning of the year according to the lunar calendar system, which does not coincide with the most commonly used Gregorian calendar.

The lunar year of 2019 started on February 5th (of the Gregorian calendar system). According to Chinese zodiac, this year is the Year of the Pig, which symbolizes wealth.

Even though the event came later than the actual date, the festival aimed to allow students who were unable to celebrate the holiday at home to celebrate the occasion together at Gustavus,as well as to promote their own cultures.

Lunar New Year is an occasion for them to celebrate a new beginning, family, life abundance, and to honor ancestors.

Similar to Christmas and Thanksgiving, the Lunar New Year is when extended family come together, to cook and to care for one another.

This tradition has been so meaningful that no matter what you do and where you are throughout the year, your family will come together for the Lunar New Year.

“When I was little, Lunar New Year simply meant new clothes, good food, and lucky money. But as I grow older, I have realized that the Lunar New Year means so much more to me, especially when I celebrate it with my friends, my second family, away from home,” VSA Co-President Giang Nguyen said.

“I hope that Gustavus will have more and more events like the Lunar New Year Festival, because we celebrate diversity as one of our five pillars and we are also well-known for the cultural diversity of student backgrounds. These kinds of events will help Gusties explore the traditions, cultural celebrations, and religious practices of different countries that they have never had a chance to know before,”Nguyen said.

A few highlights of the performances include the Chinese Dai Dance, the flute recital, the K-Pop/C-Pop dance, the poem recitals, and the Lion Dance.

The Chinese Dai Dance, also known as “She Sway” or “Happy Water,” was performed on Dai folk music, by the trio dance minors: Sophomore Kristie Olson, Sophomore Rebecca Steffen, and Junior Giang Nguyen.

This performance surprised the audience with elegant and agile dance moves characteristic of Chinese folk dances.

The flute recital was brought to the  event by Vietnamese First-year Lam Nguyen. He plays the piece “Anh Nang Cua Anh” to celebrate love with beautiful sounds of the bamboo flute.

Another highlighted performance was the K-Pop/C-Pop dance by Konnect, the performance group from the K-Pop Club. The group showcased their powerful moves that brought the audience fresh energy.

Sophomore Ja’de Lin Till and First Year Junming Wu collaborated to present the audience with two poem readings and their explanation of the Chinese literature and its implications.

Last but not least, the event was proud to welcome the traditional Lion Dance by the Ha Family.

They came all the way from St. Paul to Saint Peter, bringing their ensemble and costumes, to provide Gusties with authentic cultural performances.

The dance featured two traditional Chinese Lions, who  performed powerful moves and even interacted with the audience.

First-year Emily Monicken attended the event and was most impressed by the Lion Dancers.

“My favorite moment during the festival was definitely the Lion Dance. It was very entertaining to watch the performers put on such an impressive performance in a crowded space. I’ve never seen a Lion Dance before and it definitely did not disappoint,”Monicken said.

The end concluded with the serving of Hunan Beef, Pork with Broccoli, Veggie Lo Mien, Pork Lo Mien, White Rice, and Boba Tea.

The event came to be thanks to the collaboration of a diverse group of students on campus.

“GAC needs more events like this to immerse students in different cultural events that involve experiencing and appreciating. Lunar New Year is meant to bring people together and I believe this event did just that.”

-Kristie Olson

“It really is a different event from the usual ones going on at campus, where people were pleasantly surprised by the variety of activities. It was a success because more than a single ethnic group/club planned the event together to come up with different ideas that worked splendidly together,”Junior Shadman Azad said.

The talented Gusties from VSA, CCC, and other organizations who volunteered to help have successfully brought to Gustavus Adolphus College a festive and lively night.

“My favorite part of the festival was watching the whole thing come together. Planning the event was extremely tiring and stressful at times but watching people smile with the lion dancers, cheer for the dances and poems, win prizes with the trivia along with participating in the games on stage was completely worth all the hard work. GAC needs more events like this to immerse students in different cultural events that involve experiencing and appreciating. Lunar New Year is meant to bring people together and I believe this event did just that,” CCC Co-President Kristie Olson said.

Representing CCC and VSA, Olson and Nguyen would like to thank again not only those who have helped out during the organizing process, but also those who came and shared a moment of celebration with them last Friday.