Red lanterns hang in the hallways, stamped with intricate gold details. Paper cuttings and couplets deck the windows, indicating the hopes and good wishes for the Lunar New Year. Each year, the Sacred Heart Greenwich community celebrates the historic traditions of this holiday. During the week leading up to February 10, the Upper School honored Lunar New Year with an informative presentation and student-run collaborative activities, during which community members could experience the foods and games of diverse cultures.
Lunar New Year is an important holiday in Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Vietnam. Although the traditions vary depending upon the culture, the ultimate goal of the 15-day celebration is to spend time with family and attain prosperity and togetherness. In the Chinese tradition, families prepare for the festivities with a deep cleansing of the house to expel any bad spirits that have gathered up in the old year, according to history.com. The festivities center around families uniting over traditional dishes. In Chinese culture, fish commemorates Lunar New Year’s eve because it symbolizes abundance and good luck, according to history.com. In addition, Chinese and Korean families gather around foods made from glutinous rice as it symbolizes togetherness.
At Sacred Heart, students from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese backgrounds spoke about their cultural traditions. In a morning meeting presentation to the Upper School, sophomore Arianna Chin shed light on Korean foods such as 떡국 (tteokguk), a rice cake soup, 약과 (yakgwa), a sweet pastry made of honey, and 유과 (yugwa), a deep-fried treat made of glutinous rice. Senior Avery Kim highlighted Korean games such as 윷놀이 (yutnori), a traditional board game with sticks, 공기 (gonggi), a game similar to jacks, and 제기차기 (jegichagi), a game where one has to keep a “jegi,” which is a coin wrapped in paper, in the air by kicking it up. Freshman Grace Im emphasized traditional Korean dress with the display of 한복 (hanbok), which are cut and sewn pastel tops and bottoms that Koreans wear on holidays. Junior Ava Clear presented Japanese tradition by sharing her family’s traditions and explaining how to say celebratory phrases in Japanese such as akemashite omedetōgozaimasu (Happy New Year), and sophomore Sherika Jiang reflected on Chinese culture by describing traditional foods such as dumplings, fish, and glutinous rice cake.
Mrs. Xian Zheng (Chen Laoshi), Upper School Chinese Teacher, has organized the school’s celebrations for Lunar New Year for the past two years. She commented on the similarities and differences between this year’s celebration and the previous years.
“Similarly to in the past, the Upper School students who celebrate Lunar New Year at home with their families are going to present their traditions to the Upper School students and faculty in morning meeting,” Chen Laoshi said. “The different part is, we are going to use GOALS time to arrange student-led activities with traditional foods and games so people can learn more, enjoy, and just have fun.”
The student-run activities took place during GOALS February 9. Sherika celebrated Chinese culture with bao snacks and a chopstick game. Arianna and Grace commemorated Korean traditions with sweet treats and dumplings, while Avery hosted a game of gonggi. Ava and Chen Laoshi demonstrated and taught students how to create calligraphy.
Each year, Chen Laoshi celebrates Lunar New Year with her Chinese classes and her family. She reflected on the traditions she shares with her students and the significance of celebrating with her family.
“Every year I try to make dumplings with all the students taking Chinese, as this is a very traditional way to celebrate in the Northern side of China,” Chen Laoshi said. “With my family, we tend to make it simpler since my side of the family is in China. We usually gather together to eat hot pot, or everyone contributes to the cooking and have a great reunion dinner.
Today, a Chinese performing arts group, Li Liu, performed traditional acrobatic dances for all students to share another aspect of East Asian culture. Chen Laoshi reflected on this year’s Lunar New Year celebration. She commented on the possibilities for future celebrations at Sacred Heart.
“I just want the celebration to be more inclusive and more involved in the future with students and parents,” Chen Laoshi said. “I believe knowing more about different cultures will expand our point of view and it is important to grow and learn more.”
Featured Image by Michaela White ’26
