2023 Lunar New Year Celebration

BY QIN CHEN

Cougar Ridge Elementary Parent

The 2023 Lunar New Year Celebration hosted by Cougar Ridge (CR) Elementary PTSA debuted on February 3, 2023, and joined billions of Asian families and friends to celebrate one of the most important festivals around the world. This CR cultural event provided an excellent opportunity for our students, parents, school staff, and communities to learn about East and Central Asian traditions celebrating the Lunar New Year while building stronger connections with a wider range of social groups.

The event kicked off with an introduction of the history, traditions, and facts of Lunar New Year by two students. Performances included tai chi, a fan dance, a fashion show, and gu zheng by current and alumni CR students and local communities. It gave us a fantastic sense of Chinese folk dances and music. The dragon dance and kung fu performance by students from a local kung fu academy were definitely the highlight of the celebration. Meanwhile, traditional activities like crafts, shuttlecock, origami, etc., were set up by volunteers in the school's gym. Students had hands-on fun and even wrote their own Chinese calligraphy with instruction from volunteer artists.

Being surrounded by all the clapping and laughing from the audience during the celebration, as an event volunteer, parent of two children (one American Born Chinese and one Canadian Born Chinese), and an immigrant coming to the U.S. for the American dream, I can’t help being emotional with a mix of feelings and belief that I am not alone.

We are grateful to the supporters of the event since, without the tireless preparation, collaboration, and contributions from our PTSA, school staff, parents, and volunteers, this wouldn’t have happened. We saw a strong community that shares common interests and educates, respects, and celebrates cultural differences together.

We are proud of all the participants for presenting and promoting our culture regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, and religion. Many young Asian performers, including my kids, were raised in the U.S. and barely have had the chance to visit their family overseas, especially during the past few years due to the pandemic. Participating in the event helped them raise awareness of their unique culture that was passed down by their ancestors and understand better who and what we are.

We are deeply touched by the passion of 400+ event attendees from numerous cultural backgrounds. Several kids told me that they learned about Asia from the school’s social studies. The celebration tonight gave them an enjoyable heritage experience even though none of them had traveled to those countries in person.

Some more details for this event were also shared by Jun Qian, another Cougar Ridge Elementary parent:

It was my great pleasure to get involved in hosting a Lunar New Year celebration event sponsored by our PTSA at Cougar Ridge Elementary School. During this event, we were able to bring people together, celebrate, make friends, and learn something new about another ethnic group while participating in cultural activities. One of the most popular activities was teaching kids how to write Chinese calligraphy. Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. During this activity, I saw some Asian kids learn about their history and heritage, which helped them understand how they became who they are. They were interested in obtaining information about their roots. By participating in such activities, the students became more passionate and confident. Not only for the Asian community, this kind of cultural event benefits everyone in our community. Cultural diversity is now very popular in our community; immigrants move into this country every day and become part of the community.