On Jan. 29, the International Student Ambassadors, Multicultural Student Coalition and the Office of Student Engagement hosted a Lunar New Year celebration.
Lunar New Year celebrates the beginning of the new year on the lunisolar calendar and the arrival of spring. It is an important holiday in China, but it is also celebrated in Vietnam, South Korea, and other countries with a large Chinese population.
Each year there is a new animal that represents the new year. Every 12 years the animals repeat in a cycle. The 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar include the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
2025 is the year of the snake, which represents transformation and new beginnings.
Hosting events like these is important for the Wilkes community to get exposed to other cultures.
“It is important to spread and represent different cultures across campus so students feel like they are heard. It’s also good because it helps our campus become more diverse and more inclusive,” said Shanelly Hinds, and MSC member.
Hosted in the JPAC students that attended the event were offered food like lo mein, sweet and sour chicken and spring rolls. There were also a variety of Asian snacks available. In addition to the snacks and food, students were able to enjoy a variety of hot tea.
On the final day of Lunar New Year, lantern festivals are a tradition. To honor this, attendees were given the opportunity to create their own lanterns. With easy instructions, they were able to make colorful lanterns and could decorate them however they wanted.
A lot of research went into this event to make sure the tradition is represented correctly.
“We did a lot of research and the international students helped a lot.” Shanelly said.
