The Sophian

Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Maggie Mertens This Lunar New Year is the year of the golden pig, which is associated with wealth and good luck.

Billions of people around the world will be gathering with their friends and family on Feb. 18 in celebration of the Lunar New Year 4705. In countries such as China, Japan and Korea, this celebration marks the first day of the two-week Spring Festival, the longest and most anticipated festival of the year.

"This Lunar New Year is particularly special because it is the year of the golden pig," says Jennifer Huang '08, social chair of the Asian Students' Association (ASA) and member of Chinese Inter-Regional Student Cultural Organization (CISCO). "The pig is traditionally associated with wealth and good luck. ... The golden pig returns only every 600 years and when it does it symbolizes an especially auspicious year. This is a good year to have babies!"

The Lunar New Year celebration is one that is filled with traditions and superstitions. Preparation for the holiday usually begins a few days before the celebration with a house cleaning to sweep away bad luck. Decorations of the color red, a symbol of good fortune and prosperity, are put up around homes and buildings alongside paper cutouts with phrases promoting happiness and wealth painted on them.

On New Year's Eve, it is customary for families to have a large feast with all of their relatives. Typical foods eaten at these feasts include spring rolls, dumplings, a whole fish, chicken and oranges.

Throughout the rest of the Spring Festival, people are often dressed entirely in new clothing to symbolize a fresh start to the new year. Old grudges are cast aside and gifts are exchanged among friends and neighbors. Children are given red envelopes, hong bao, which are filled with money.

At night, dances and parades are usually performed while red firecrackers are set off to scare away evil spirits.

Along with these traditions, many families practice customs of their own. "One tradition that my family takes part in is putting a plastic toy in one dumpling," says Huang. "Whoever eats the 'special' dumpling that has a toy in it wins a prize."

Festivities for the New Year at Smith, hosted by the Vietnamese Students' Association, CISCO and ASA, will start at 6 p.m. on Feb. 17 in the Davis Ballroom at the Mwangi Cultural Center. "The theme will be The Night of Legends," says Alexis Le '10, a member of ASA and VSA. "This is our way of teaching ancient to modern Asian New Year traditions." The event's features include traditional foods, bubble tea, crafts, games, a fashion show and a lion dance. An after-party in the Campus Center Carroll Room will begin at 10 p.m.

According to the Chinese zodiac, people born in the year of the pig - 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995 and 2007 - are honest, hardworking and loyal. They are curious learners and most compatible with those who were born in the years of the rabbit or the sheep. Celebrities born in the year of the pig include Kid Rock, Denise Richards, Tom Green, Jada Pinkett Smith and Ricky Martin.

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