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Students celebrate Chinese New Year
Published:
Monday, February 10, 2003
Chinese students celebrated their Chinese New Year this Saturday. The Chinese Students' Association includes not only members from mainland China, but Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and America.
This year the Chinese cultural program is marked by the initiation ceremony (Hoi Gong) of their new Lion (a ceremonial costume) which the Chinese Students' Association brought in accompanied by drum, cymbal, and gong. The Chinese never use a lion without its initiation ceremony.
"Initiation to Lion means giving life to the lion," Wen Sze Foo, the president of the Chinese student association said.
The initiation of Lion involves a comprehensive list of cultural rites. One is "dotting the eye," an act of painting the lion's eyes to awaken its spirit from the heaven to earth. They believe it will bring bad luck to them if they don't go through the initiation ceremony of the new Lion.
After the initiation ceremony, Chinese students perform their first lion dance show.
The Chinese students also performed a drama depicting the traditions followed during their New Year in line with their theme of the night "Spring By The River, embracing the New Year."
Unlike the American New Year, Chinese New Year is based on the lunar cycle, and is celebrated on the first day of the lunar calendar. Their celebration lasts for 15 days, with each day having its significance. They celebrate and offer prayers in the name of their Gods, ancestors, good farming, visiting each other, prosperities etc. The last day of the Chinese New Year marks the couple search which is similar to the holiday of Valentine's Day.
Young Chinese men and women go to the riverside on the last day of their New Year. Women who wish to find good husbands in the future throw Chinese oranges into the river, and guys at the other end try to pick them up.
Another highlight of the Chinese cultural night is the professional Chinese dance theatre from Minneapolis (CAAM) which performed different dances wearing colorful Chinese silk clothes. One particular aspect of Chinese culture that was featured was the martial arts. The CAAM female dancers performed "Young Warriors," a martial arts dance with their skills in long spears. They also performed a golden snake dance, which they also refer to as the Lion dance. They also performed a color ribbons dance.
After dinner was served, The Chinese students at SCSU performed a chinese musical. Later, Xiao Chang-Liu from mainland China performed a wonderful Tibetan dance.
The cultural night concluded with the second Lion Dance performance, with its loud music of drum, cymbal and gong. The significance of the ferocious Lion dance, which is accompanied by loud percussion and fire crackers is their strong belief that these noises will scare away the ghosts and bring in good luck and prosperity to people.
In addition to the look at Chinese culture and performances of song and dance, Saturday night's attendees were treated to Chinese cuisine.
"Chinese dances, especially the martial dance intrigued me." Anne Bodurtha, freshman, Real Estate major said.
"The presence of International students in St Cloud has enriched us in many ways," said Dr. Chunsheng Zhang, the director for International Studies at SCSU.
