Jenna Bacon, Campus Carrier arts and living editor

Ali Luciani, Campus Carrier asst. arts and living editor

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) student group welcomed students and faculty to a vibrant celebration of the Lunar New Year on Monday. From red envelopes and calligraphy to Jeopardy-styled trivia, the event highlighted both diversity and unity within Asian cultures.

For senior Harvey Patel, one of the co-presidents of AAPI, the celebration represented more than a holiday. Although she is Indian and does not personally celebrate Lunar New Year, she sees it as an opportunity to learn more about East Asian cultures. As someone who celebrates Diwali as a new year in her own culture, Patel said learning about other Asian traditions has broadened her perspective. 

“I’m not of Chinese heritage, but the Lunar New Year, to me, has been a festival that we’ve celebrated in AAPI,” Patel said. “Just seeing the spring festival for the Chinese culture and other Asian cultures and how that plays into their everyday life is really cool.”

The celebration featured hands-on activities including Jeopardy-style trivia, Chinese calligraphy, origami and red envelopes, along with Panda Express and fortune cookies. Patel said that the goal of the celebration was to create connection and educate about Chinese culture. 

“I hope to connect with people through this event, through food, obviously the Jeopardy,” Patel said. “It’s supposed to be an educational aspect so they can learn more about things that they wouldn’t know or go looking. So just helping spread awareness about that because the Asian popularity here on campus is very minor.”

Junior Hannah Evans, AAPI secretary, shared how her study abroad experience in Scotland shaped her perspective of Lunar New Year. 

“When I think of Lunar New Year, I think of my friend Jill, and I think of the people that I bonded with,” said Evans. “To me, it’s bringing people together and eating, enjoying life and having a good time.”

Evans, who is half-Filipino, said she appreciates how the holiday highlights both shared and distinct traditions across Asian cultures. 

“We don’t celebrate Lunar New Year, but, I know that it is something that is experienced in a lot of southeastern Asian countries, like the Philippines,” Evans said. “So, I feel like it’s good to bring awareness to things.”

Eunjeong Shin, assistant professor of management, also shared her perspective on Lunar New Year as someone from South Korea, where she said it is the biggest holiday they celebrate. For her, the holiday is centered around family, growth and reflection. 

“It’s the time that we get together as family for reflection and kind of gratitude and also renewal,” Shin said. “That’s actually the biggest holiday that we have in South Korea, it’s celebrated in many different Asian countries, but I’m just kind of talking from the South Korean perspective.”

Shin described traditions such as performing deep bows called sebae to honor elders and eating rice cake soup, which symbolizes gaining a year of life. 

“So, in Korea, we think New Year is everybody’s birthday, pretty much, so we all kind of turned a year older on New Year’s Day,” Shin said. “That rice cake soup symbolizes as you finish the entire soup, you’re gaining a year and also the rice cake symbolizes a long, long life and healthy life, because it’s a long rice cake.”

She said events like AAPI’s celebration are especially meaningful on a campus like Berry’s with a smaller Asian population. 

“We don’t have a large international student population here on Berry, but I was actually hoping that this will kind of bring more understanding and empathy of other cultures,” Shin said. “So this was really a great opportunity to build that empathy and just to also let the community know that, ‘Yeah, we have this Asian population here,’ and then we’re also willing to celebrate our holidays here on this campus.”

The Chinese zodiac is a system based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal to each year in a repetitive 12-year cycle. The different characteristics of each zodiac animal is often used to predict what kind of fortune the year will bring. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, which is said to bring rapid growth, innovation, and boldness. Shin reflected on how the zodiac she grew up with in Korea compares to those in other Asian cultures.

“In China, they don’t really do the elements as much,” Shin said. “So, in Korea we do those 12 animals with the elements, but in China they don’t really use those five elements. That was another cultural difference that I found.” 

Lunar New Year is a beautiful celebration with similarities and differences across various cultures. Aside from being a beautiful way to celebrate new beginnings and exciting possibilities, it’s also an opportunity for people to spend quality time together. The personalization provided by the zodiac animals are also a fun concept to take part in.