Lunar New Year

The whole school will be gathering in the Quad on Monday for our annual Lunar New Year firework display. Last year’s display included a thrilling digital presentation of a dragon dancing across the School façade, and this year promises more visual excitement! The buses will be leaving at 6.15pm to allow all girls to enjoy the celebration. Throughout the week girls will also be hearing about Lunar New Year in Chapel, and can look forward to some traditional activities that will see them decorating the library and our central fireplace with calligraphy, paper-cutting and block printing.

新年快乐

Lunar New Year – Korean-style!

In South Korea, Lunar New Year is the most magnificent holiday of all.

First, we start with a tradition called “sebae”, which is a ritual where the younger children wear traditional clothing and bow down to their elders, such as their parents, grandparents, and older relatives.

After sebae, we usually get “Lunar New Year money” from the elders and wish each other a good year without any troubles or bad luck. For food, the most commonly eaten food throughout Korea on this holiday is definitely “Tteokguk”, which is rice cake soup, with thinly sliced egg and dried seaweed on top. We say that one bowl of this soup will make you one year older as well, therefore many people eat it on New Year's Day too.

Many households also play folk games such as “yutnori” or “gonggi” – when I was younger, I remember playing those folk games with my relatives and enjoying this amazing holiday. Lunar New Year is truly the best time of the year for South Koreans.

Soyoung (Yr11)

Chinese New Year

In my family, we celebrate Chinese New Year by visiting our relatives, eating rice cakes, and putting up red posters with meaningful words. On the day before Chinese New Year, we put up red posters called ‘Fai Chun’ on our walls. These ‘Fai Chuns’ are known to bring good luck in the New Year. On Chinese New Year’s Day, we go to our relatives’ homes to wish them a good year ahead, and give each other red packets. Then we eat lunch with them. Our lunch consists of rice cakes (called ‘Nian Gao’), roast chickens and ducks, Chinese dumplings, fish, and most importantly, the sweet dumplings (called tangyuan). Then me and my cousins would have a competition called ‘Who can say the most phrases of prosperity’ – we each have to say as many phrases (like 恭喜發 財 and 萬事如意) as we can, and the person who says the most phrases wins! Chinese New Year is a time of fun and joy in my family!

Lunar New Year in Singapore

In Singapore, Chinese New Year is celebrated primarily with our families, and begins with the annual reunion dinner on the eve of the new year.

Festivities last for 15 days, and often consist of visiting the houses of relatives, eating special food, and receiving and giving red envelopes with money inside.

It's a fantastic festival, and really important for us!

Korean Lunar New Year

During Lunar New Year, which is called Seollal in Korea, we visit family and perform ancestral rites with some Korean traditional foods, fruits, and other foods that our ancestors liked. There are certain foods that must be served on the ancestral table. After performing ancestor rites, we eat a traditional soup consisting of rice cakes, which symbolises getting one year older. We also play many folk games with our family and receive money from elders, after expressing gratitude to them by performing a formal bow.

Sihu and Siyun (Yr10)