Concordia Community Celebrates Chinese New Year
by April Bayer
Students, professors and other members of the Concordia community recently gathered to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year at parties hosted by Mandarin teacher Chiu ‘Jo’ Cheng Yu and by Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Brian Albright and his wife, KaiPing Albright.
The Albrights’ party occurred at their home on Friday, Feb. 16, and included several local families with various connections to the Asian community.
Junior Emma Heidorn, who has attended the annual gathering for six years, says the event is a great way to share her culture with others and reminds her of her childhood home in Taiwan.
“Even though I’m not at home, I can still have a part of my home with me,” Heidorn said. “Sometimes you need to experience things for yourself to learn about cultures…You get the feeling of community, you get some of the food, and it’s a way to have a little something different every once in awhile.”
A Chinese New Year celebration in Taiwan, according to Heidorn, usually involves a family gathering at a nice restaurant or with a homemade meal. Family members will also exchange red envelopes filled with money, light firecrackers, and place red signs on their doors. Red is viewed as a lucky color which will ward off the “year monster,” a legendary creature who is said to eat those who fail to scare him away.
The Albrights incorporated many of these elements into their celebration. Guests shared conversation over a large buffet featuring popular Taiwanese and Chinese foods and desserts, and the children at the event later lined up, greeting the adults in Mandarin and receiving decorative red envelopes with money.
Several Concordia students also attended Chiu’s party, hosted at her apartment on Saturday, Feb. 17. Guests worshipped together through prayer and song, ate homecooked Taiwanese food, spoke with Chiu’s family over video chat, and received red envelopes filled with money and Bible verses.
“It was wonderful to be around so many people interested in Taiwanese culture and get to experience a little bit of it myself…talking with the host and learning some about how to speak…Mandarin,” junior Micah Symmank said.
Chiu said she was thankful for the chance to celebrate with her students, as it was her first New Year’s gathering away from her family.
“We say that a (New Year’s) family reunion is a circle, it’s round. When there’s one absent, it’s not a circle anymore,” Chiu said. “So, these are the people that I consider family, who are also my students. We are experiencing culture together.”
