Mission Bay Welcomes the Chinese New Year
Photo Credit: Adapted for the Beachcomber
Chinese New Year
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February 8, 2012 • Samantha Powell, Staff Reporter
Filed under News, Top Stories
Although the Chinese New Year officially started on the rainy 23rd of January, the San Diego Chinese Center will be holding their 30th annual Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Fair on Saturday the 28th through the 29th. If you happen to miss this, the Mission Bay High School’s Asian Cultural Awareness Club will be holding their own celebration closer to the end of the Lunar New Year which on the 7th of February. In 2012, kids, teens, adults will welcome in the Year of the Dragon. According to Chinese culture, the dragon is powerful and often associated with prosperity during their years. This year’s dragon is the water dragon, which only happens every sixty years.
A popular way to start the New Year is a late night temple service. “I left my house around 10 and walked to the temple,” said Sawanee Kam, a senior. “There were so many people, security had to block off three blocks around the temple.” The ceremony started with “people going in with wicks, then the lion dancers came in and they had a competition.” During competitions, the dancers compete for who had the liveliest lion with facial expressions, stunts, and acrobatics. Another thing the lion dancers do is pick up a piece of fruit, peel it, and toss it in to the crowd. “Whoever catches the fruit gets good the luck for the whole year,” said Sawanee.
On Friday the 3rd at lunch, it was impossible to miss the drum beats echoing all around the school from the weedpatch. Those beats came from the lion dancers, who were at Mission Bay as part of a festival put on by the Asian Cultural Awareness Club. During lion dancing, two performers operate one lion costume. The costumes usually have shaggy hair in bright colors like red or orange and traditionally hand out red envelopes with money inside to kids and teens during celebrations.
On the 3rd a small troupe came and preformed while the crowd enjoyed Asian food. “We had chow Mein, egg rolls, and lots of chicken and veggie,” said Jurrine Malasig, a senior and president of the Asian Cultural Awareness Club. “The festival was a success, the lion dancers were a hit and we sold all of our food,” she said “maybe the club will have another festival next year but it depends on who is president. It would be awesome if we could because it is one of our biggest fundraisers since teachers and students love it and the festivals expand diversity.”
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