Celebrating The Chinese Lunar New Year: My Story
By Liwa Sun
The Lunar New Year is celebrated during the anticipatory final days of the lunar calendar year, leading up to the first day of the new year, which is known as the Spring Festival. This period of time lines up with winter break in China, a time that my extended family reunites in our hometown. The annual togetherness is infused with so much hilarity and festivity. It is almost a mandate for the family to come together on the grand eve of Spring Festival for the lavish meal of the year, known as nian ye fan. Steamed dumplings, the singular essential on the dinner table, is the grand finale of the night. My family prides itself on making our dumplings from scratch and I’m proud to say that I know how to make thin and sturdy wrappings. My mother would sneak several peanuts in the dumplings before sealing them; whoever eats the peanut is blessed with a year of good luck. When I was a child, I was very competitive, and I gulped the dumplings rapidly in search of the peanuts and eyed the faces around me lest one of them ignited with serendipity.
I haven’t celebrated the Lunar New Year with my family since age fifteen. The relinquishment of something so integral to me, manifests every year in the quiet American morning that concurs with the jubilant Chinese night. Luckily, with GFS’ Lunar New Year Celebration, I can feel at home once again. It’s uplifting and redemptive.
Philadelphia friends! Join us for GFS’ fourth annual all-school Lunar New Year Celebration on Saturday, January 25, from 6–8 p.m. in Hargroves Student Center. Families and friends are welcome to enjoy sensational Chinese food, music, performances, crafts, and more. Please RSVP to pslavova@germantownfriends.org. $5 per person or $15 for a family of four or more.
Liwa Sun ’20 is a part of the International Student Program at GFS. Her poetry has been published in a number of publications and websites, such as The Ideate Review, Seven Circle Press, and The Bare Life Review.
