While New Year’s has passed, the common sentiment of rejuvenation has faded for some students with the passing of time. The spirit of renewal and ceremony, however, is still present on Seattle University’s campus, as many students celebrate the Lunar New Year.

 There are a handful of misconceptions about the Lunar New Year, assuming that the Chinese New Year and the Lunar New Year are the same. The Chinese New Year originates from the Lunar New Year, but it is not the only cultural form of celebration associated with the day. 

The lunar calendar is based on the moon’s orbital cycle and phases. It functions differently from the solar calendar (the standard calendar), focusing on the moon’s orbit around the Earth.

The lunar calendar, also known as the lunisolar calendar, is not used officially, however countries such as Asia, East Asia and the Middle East use it to celebrate their culture and religion. 

Seattle U’s communication and media department held a Lunar New Year celebration Jan. 28, where anyone was welcome to come and enjoy the tradition. Students of all different backgrounds came to celebrate. 

The MOSAIC Center also hosted a celebration Jan 29. The event aimed to bring students together to enjoy food, snacks and various activities. 

The communication and media department event offered food, drinks and special red envelopes called hóngbāo. Hóngbāo is a primary Chinese tradition, yet present in other parts of Asia as well, where older family members and friends give the younger generation a red envelope with money inside of it.

While the traditional hóngbāo usually contains money, at the event, it was filled with chocolate gold coins. This idea came from the event coordinator, Shalin Damany, a fourth-year communication and media major. 

Damany, who promoted the event, comes from a Taiwanese and Chinese background. She celebrates the tradition with her family every year and decided to share it with her colleagues at Seattle U. Sharing the gold coin brought back childhood memories that she shared with her family and school friends. 

“I grew up in China until high school, so this is something that I was able to celebrate with my family. But also at school, they tell us, like the superstitions, the stories behind it, and that’s where I got the idea of the gold coins because at school they’re obviously not going to give us money, but they’ll put in a gold coin,” Damany said. 

Damany shared how they would celebrate by throwing firecrackers and wearing bright red clothing as a symbol to scare the monster away as part of the tradition. 

Jenny Ho, a third-year film major, attended the event to celebrate Tết, which is the Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year. Ho celebrates Tết with her family every year. Ho shared that Tết is slightly different from the Chinese New Year. One difference is that Tết is commonly celebrated at temples, where food is served and people gather.

“You’ll see a lot of vegetarian, meatless options there. There are also performances, dances, like lion dance, too, which you usually see at Lunar New Year festivals. So it’s not really inherently indifferent, of course, there are minor differences of where it’s culturally taken place, and also like if you are Buddhist, too, and you celebrate the New Year,” Ho said. 

Food is another big part of the Lunar New Year celebration. Ho talked about how her mother would make egg rolls, spring rolls, phở, and Bánh Xèo, which Ho described as savory crepes. 

Selena Foo, a fourth-year design major, discussed how she celebrated her Chinese culture and the foods her family ate. She talked about how they would prepare zongzi, a type of Chinese rice ball, a week in advance of the festival. 

“It’s a family thing every year because I have a large extended family, one family will spend a week of the New Year to wrap the rice dumpling, and then they’ll basically give it to different households so that they can eat it for the New Year,” Foo said. 

Additionally, Foo talked about how the new year meant so much to her as it brought luck and prosperity. 

“Everybody’s very optimistic and grateful to have a family to celebrate with. So the whole thing like exchanging red envelopes giving gifts to the younger children just means prosperity, good health and also celebrating and respecting the elders, too, because that’s like a big thing in our culture,” Foo said. 

The Lunar New Year is a celebration that brings people from different backgrounds and cultures together to celebrate their unity. Even though these cultures might not be from the same place, the Lunar New Year ties them together. This tie brings with it joy, gratitude, optimism and prosperity.