By Helen Yang, Mandarin Language Faculty

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is the most important festival in many Asian countries. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2020 is the Year of Rat.

Next week, students from the Mandarin language class and international students are organizing a Forest Ridge Lunar New Year Celebration. Our entire community of students, parents and faculty are invited to participate in a hands-on celebration of Lunar New Year traditions. Students will learn how to make Chinese dumplings, write in Chinese calligraphy, play chopstick games, and learn about the Chinese Zodiac. 

As with holidays around the globe, Lunar New Year celebrations are filled with traditional foods, bright decorations and entertaining performances. 

What do people do to celebrate Lunar New Year?

Before the holiday, people have a general cleaning of their homes to welcome the New Year. People hang red lanterns in the streets, office buildings, and doors of houses. Hanging a red lantern in front of the door is believed to drive off bad luck. New Year Red Couplets are pasted on doors with good wishes expressed on them. Red paper cuttings, the art of cutting designs and then gluing them to a contrasting backing or a transparent surface, are popular as well.

On New Year’s Eve, families sit together to watch the Spring Festival Gala, one of the most-watched TV shows, which displays various performances. Most people send WeChat red envelopes or short messages to relatives and friends by phone and set off firecrackers at midnight. Billions of fireworks go up in China to drive off bad luck. People visit relatives, watch dragon and lion dances, go to Temple Fairs to enjoy all kinds of folk arts, taste traditional snacks and watch performances in the park. The most common New Year’s gifts are red envelopes, which customarily given to children. Red envelopes with money inside are believed to bring good luck throughout the new year.

What do people eat during the holiday?

Fish is a traditional dish on the Chinese New Year dinner menu because "fish" sounds like another Chinese word which means “surplus”. Chinese people like to have a surplus at the end of the year, because they believe that if they have saved something at the end of the year, then they can make more in the next year.

With a history of more than 1,800 years, dumplings are a classic lucky food for the New Year that is especially popular in North China. Dumplings can be made to look like ancient Chinese silver ingots. It is believed that the more dumplings you eat, the more money you could make in the New Year. Glutinous rice cake is another lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year's Eve. In Chinese, "glutinous rice cake" sounds like it means "getting higher year by year". Sweet rice balls are the main food for the Lantern Festival, which is the highlight and the end of the New Year celebration. The Chinese pronunciation and the round shape of sweet rice balls are symbols for reunion and being together. That's why they are favored by the Chinese during the New Year.

农历新年又被称为春节。春节是中国和许多其他亚洲国家最重要的节日。今年2020年是鼠年。

人们怎么庆祝农历新年？

节前，人们要对自己住的地方进行一次大扫除，以迎接新年的到来。人们在街上、办公楼和房门口挂红灯笼。在门前挂一盏红灯笼被认为能驱走厄运。门上贴着新年红对联。对联上表达了美好的祝愿。人们还贴窗花给节日增添喜庆的色彩。在现代社会，除夕夜时人们坐在一起看春节联欢晚会，春节联欢晚会是最受欢迎的电视节目之一，有各种各样的表演。除夕夜的时候，很多人通过电话给亲朋好友发送微信红包或短信。人们在半夜放鞭炮和烟花来驱除厄运。节日期间，人们探亲、看舞龙舞狮、逛庙会欣赏各种民间艺术、品尝传统小吃、在公园观看表演。最常见的新年礼物是给孩子们发红包。红包里面装着钱，大家相信红包能在新年给人们带来好运。

人们过年吃什么？

鱼是中国新年晚餐菜单上的一道传统菜，因为它听起来像另一个中文单词，在发音上意味着“有余”。中国人喜欢年底有盈余，因为他们相信，如果他们在年底储蓄了一些，那么他们可以在新年里赚更多。

饺子有悠久的历史，是传统的新年吉祥食品，也是除夕夜的传统佳肴，在中国，特别是北方地区广受欢迎。饺子可以做得像中国古代的银锭。人们相信你吃的饺子越多，你在新的一年里就能赚更多的钱。

年糕是中国除夕夜的幸运食品。在中国，年糕听起来有好彩头，大家希望在商业和学业上“逐年提高”。

春节的最后一天是灯节，人们观赏各种各样的灯盏，也吃汤圆，因为汤圆有团聚和在一起的意思。元宵节过好标示着新年庆典的结束。

为了帮助学校学中文的同学们和所有的学生和老师们一起亲身体验如何庆祝农历新年，探索多元文化和传统，FR学校将于1月29日上午十一点到下午两点，在学校的餐厅举办农历新年庆祝活动。学生们将学习如何包饺子！此外，还有中国书法，筷子游戏，剪纸，以及介绍中国十二生肖的故事。欢迎大家参与。让我们一起开开心过大年！