Chinese New Year Celebration

Welcoming the Year of the Dragon

At Concordian, we celebrate a diversity of cultures and Chinese New Year is one of the greatest highlights of the year.

2024 is the year of the Dragon. The Chinese Dragon, 龙lóng, symbolizes strength, power, good fortune, intelligence, and positivity. Long is believed to possess the ability to bring prosperity and ward off evil spirits; historically, it was also associated with the Emperor or a high ruling position.

Another interesting aspect of Long in Chinese mythology is that they could control the weather and seasons, change the rain patterns, help farming, and often aided humans when natural disasters struck. It symbolizes “compassion” in the relationship with humans. In the year of the Dragon, let us all be the true Concordian dragons, be strong, fearless, and compassionate.

Our campus was decorated with festive vibes for the New year: lanterns, plum blossoms, red couplets, dragon figures, Concordian dragons in Chinese outfits. Students, parents, and teachers enjoyed

seeing the decorations and took many beautiful photos.

At the main lobby and the Early Years entrance, as students entered the school, they greeted the school administrators with blessing words in Chinese. In return, they were given a red envelope HONG BAO with golden chocolate coins, a great way to start a day of celebration.

This year once again, we invited Professor and Calligrapher Jia Qing 賈慶 from Ramkhamhaeng University to write blessing words and spring couplets on red paper for all Concordian members. Watching Professor Jia gracefully transform a wish into a piece of art on red paper was a true pleasure.

A successful year of the Dragon could not start without lion and dragon dances. The 12-meter-long golden dragon and four colorful lions danced enthusiastically for an auspicious year ahead at Concordian! The joyous sound of drums and gongs attracted many parents and students as the dragon and lions performed at the lobby and marched to the Grand Theater.

In the Early Years, students enthusiastically participated in station activities led by classroom teachers. Pre-K and K1 had four rotation activities while K2 and K3 had eight stations! Not only were there some traditional games such as Dragon Ball 龙抢龙珠 and Arrow in the Pot 龙年投壶 but we had also adapted activities for the Dragon year such as Dragon Head to Tail 龙头龙尾, Fishing Dragon 龙王吃小鱼, Chinese Zodiac Spin 十二生肖大转盘. Students and teachers had a great time playing games and celebrating the cultural event.

It was delightful to see students learning the Chinese language and learning about the culture as well. We wish all Concordian members a happy and auspicious Chinese New Year!

祝大家龙年大吉，福顺安康， 龙行万里！

Ariel Yu Wang Elementary Principal