Happy Lunar New Year to everyone in our LAS community! We love sharing and learning about different cultures on our Magic Mountain, as we believe this creates innovative, compassionate, and responsible citizens of the world. This is why we are so excited to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit this year!
This past weekend we celebrated the Lunar New Year by organizing a dinner for 45 students from grades 7-12. This has become an annual tradition where students from countries that observe the Lunar New Year get together with their friends to share a meal. We had students join from over ten countries! This celebration allowed us to learn about different cultures, foster friendships, and spread New Year's joy!
Want to learn more about Lunar New Year? Head to the library where you will have the opportunity to learn about your zodiac animal and borrow the corresponding book! The library has some beautiful displays with facts about different animals—did you know, for example, that a lucky number for goats is the number two, and their lucky color is green?
Alongside these displays are the winning pictures of the BookFace challenge—well done to Lisa '27 and Nina '27, our 1st place winners, and Ana '27 and Oliver '27, who came in 2nd and 3rd place. Check out their fantastic photos and wander over to the library to learn more about the Lunar New Year!
The date of the Lunar New Year is decided by the lunar calendar, which is based on the moon's cycles. During New Year celebrations in China, children receive small red envelopes with money and good luck inside. However, the amount of money should never include or divide by four, as four in Chinese sounds like the word for death! Other traditions in Chinese culture include the changing zodiac animals. It is believed that you share many characteristics with your animal, whether that's a dragon, a pig, or a rat. Tigers are known for being brave and competitive, rabbits are elegant and responsible, and monkeys are intelligent and curious. Do you think that’s true?
In other countries, the Lunar New Year is celebrated in numerous different ways. In Vietnam, the celebration is called Tet Festival, and this year marks the Year of the Cat. In South Korea, the celebration is called Seollal, and many Koreans wear the traditional Hanbok and eat foods such as tteokguk and jeon. It's so interesting to learn about how different cultures celebrate the start of a new lunar calendar!
Learning about different cultures is what LAS is all about, and we are so excited to celebrate the Lunar New Year with our community. Make sure you head to the library to learn more about this fantastic celebration!