Jalene Wong, a freshman business administration major at Chapman, has celebrated Lunar New Year her whole life. Whether it was going to festivals, devouring Chinese sticky rice or spending time with extended family, enjoying the festivities became a constant tradition. But it wasn’t until she educated herself about her Chinese and Korean culture that she realized the true power of the celebration.

“In high school, I realized I didn’t feel too close with my culture and I felt like I needed to learn more about it,” Wong said. “Immersing myself into my culture allowed me to feel more connected to it and be more proud.”

Many other students also hold Lunar New Year close to their hearts, sharing their memories through the Cross Cultural Center’s (CCC) “Lunar New Year Student Spotlight” campaign. The Instagram event, which took place on the CCC’s account Feb. 19, allowed students to post photos, videos and comments about their favorite Lunar New Year moments from previous years. 

Wong shared a photo of herself as a child wearing a traditional Korean dress, while others followed with photos of the food they would indulge in, the family they would gather with and the traditions they would partake in. Shishei Tsang, CCC program coordinator, told The Panther this event was created to show the uniqueness of the East Asian holiday. 

“Asian populations and communities are not a monolith, so we want students from different organizations to showcase how they individually celebrate it,” Tsang said. “We don’t want to be here speaking for all the people based on some research and say, ‘This is how you do New Year.’ We want it to be from a first-person point of view with real faces, photos and footage of how they do it.”

Lunar New Year highlights the beginning of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, which relies on the phases of the moon, so the New Year date changes each year. This year, the celebration was on Feb. 12 —  named the “Year of the Ox.” Countries all over East Asia participate in Lunar New Year, which centers around values of reunion and hope. Tsang told The Panther that her family’s favorite part about the holiday is a new, refreshing beginning. 

“You are happy because it’s a new start,” Tsang said. “It’s just about taking away all the bad things that have happened in the past year, celebrating hard work and welcoming a new start to the new year.”

Tsang put Preetha Raj, a senior student assistant for the CCC, in charge of coordinating the campaign. Raj, a peace studies and health science major, realized recurring Zoom events could just put more strain on students’ eyes, so she shifted the event toward social media. 

“Zoom fatigue is a real thing,” Raj said. “I thought it would be really cool to exhibit (students) on Instagram, and also on top of that really show how families are able to celebrate online this year and still uphold a lot of those traditions.”

Viewers also participated in a red envelope exchange, a tradition in most Lunar New Year celebrations where family members can exchange small amounts of money in a red envelope. Anyone can email a red envelope donation to a loved one by accessing the link in the bio of the CCC Instagram. 

“Historically, it had gold coins inside, but nowadays it has all the various forms of money and it’s a symbol of wishing good fortune, good luck and health in the upcoming year,” Raj said of the red envelopes. “Red is supposed to symbolize prosperity and success and love and happiness. That exchange is really symbolic and is something really traditional that happens over New Year.”

Due to COVID-19, many Lunar New Year celebrations were cut short, in a time where there’s also been spikes in violence toward Asian Americans. Raj said this spotlight campaign can give the Asian community a platform to share their voices and display the beauty of their culture. In order for the Chapman community to truly become a globally inclusive place, Wong said there must be continued events like these and an eagerness to participate in the education of all cultural celebrations. 

“I know Chapman really promotes us to be global citizens, so it’s really interesting and fun to learn about other cultures and all different holidays,” Wong said.