From buzz about Draco Malfoy as a good luck symbol to silly musings about it being F1 Team Ferrari’s year (their mascot is a horse), Lunar New Year seems to be on the forefront of global minds more than ever. In our local community, Lakeville South’s Asian Student Union (ASU) has been celebrating this holiday of joy and gathering as well, one of many groups bringing our students closer together.
Lunar new year in most celebrating countries follows the lunisolar calendar – but the holiday and celebrations can vary widely by country. China calls the new year the Chun Jie – the Spring Festival, in Vietnam it’s known as Tết, and Seollal in Korea.
ASU hosted a potluck on Wednesday, February 11th to celebrate the holiday early. Members of ASU gathered in the lecture hall and brought a variety of dishes to share with one another. Everything from Nian Gao, to Pandan cake, and Chrysanthemum tea, were brought from all different Asian cultures. The spread featured dishes salty and sweet, traditional desserts, and a variety of drinks and snacks. After an hour of an early dinner, the group reconvened for some fun trivia and games.
According to the five-element system in China, we split into the five groups of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. As fun twist – the red packets each person received walking through the door revealed each person’s alliance, and possibly the special prize of a cougar pride ticket! These groups of mixed grade levels and ethnicities prepared to battle out multiple rounds of games to be crowned the best element. We tested our chopsticks skills, stacked dice with cups for hands, and tested our creativity by crafting horses out of paper.
In this particular competition, water took the win! One of our ASU leaders, Truc Nguyen shared that the Lunar New Year potluck this year especially showed the power of a holiday bringing people together, in her words, “it was refreshing to see so many new faces celebrating with us!”.
Outside of ASU, the Lunar New Year is also a meaningful holiday for many Lakeville South families and many Asian cultures. Students at South follow many different versions of these traditions, and celebrate differently too!
In the Chinese Zodiac, 2026 begins the year of the fire horse. Not only does the zodiac have 12 year cycles per the 12 zodiac animals, it also goes through the 5 elements in a 60 year cycle. Traditions include watching the broadcasted Chunwan performances, which approximately translates to Spring’s Eve. This year’s Chunwan was an hour-long broadcast filled with the latest new technology – robots dancing and performing kung fu moves throughout. They typically have a mix of singing, dancing, comedy skits.
Truc shared that her activities often include “Traditional Vietnamese New Year food with family or at a family friend’s house.” Lily Ngo, another ASU member, concurred about the family spirit, noting that she celebrates with a “Big family get-together at [her] aunt’s house” that’s always “filled with food and fun.” Some of their sweetest memories came from small moments together with loved ones, and similarly heart-warming games like those from the LHS celebration.
Lily recalled that she once “popped red and yellow balloons with varying amounts of money inside”. The twist? While she received 20 dollars, her cousin received 100! She jokingly shared with me that “the red envelopes later on made up for it” but that she’s still salty over it! Red packets are traditionally given out by older family members to younger ones to wish them good fortune and luck in the new year. Truc fondly remembered her favorite Lunar New Year, a time she celebrated at a family friend’s house, so “there was a lot of food — like a LOT — as well as many envelopes of lucky money”, that only cost her a few well wishes.
But ASU is bringing the Lakeville South community together even without special holidays. Lily describes the ASU community as “one that is always open, comfy, and fun”. The group has several meetings throughout the year that celebrate various cultures across Asia with a variety of events. For her and many others, “it’s so great to bond with others over these distinct yet shared aspects of our heritages.” Lily added as well that ASU’s most popular events are food-based, and “we all know food is the best way to bond!” Truc also observed that “At South, it can be hard to meet everyone because of how large the student body is”, but that ASU consistently “connects students from different grade levels” through low-stress and casual bonding time.
ASU is a unique opportunity at Lakevill South for “Coming together despite our differences”, and Lily strongly welcomes everyone to come to the “pretty awesome” meetings (which she notes is a completely unbiased opinion).
