Lunar New Year Assembly Blends History, Music, and Fortunes

Even though a snow closure postponed the Lunar New Year assembly, students in AsIAm took the stage in the David. E. and Stacey L. Goel Theater for a belated celebration on Thursday, February 13. A joint initiative between Lower School and Upper School AsIAm, students plan and organize an annual Lunar New Year assembly where the entire school gets to experience the holiday together. 

At Winsor, AsIAm (Asian in America) is an affinity group where students of East Asian descent build community. Weekly meetings foster connection and allow Asian students at Winsor to create a greater sense of belonging through shared history, culture, holidays, and traditions, which they also offer to the wider Winsor community.

Upper School AsIAm explored some of the holiday’s ancient history, sharing that Lunar New Year predates the Gregorian calendar by over 1,500 years and was started in the 14th century BCE by the Yellow Emperor Huángdi. The celebration of the new year is based on the farming calendar and each year is associated with an animal. Dozens of countries celebrate Lunar New Year with varying regional differences. Club leaders with familial ties to Korea, China, and the Philippines explained the wide-reaching holiday results in the largest human migration every year as families travel to be together for celebrations.

Two talented traditional Chinese musicians from the Boston Music and Arts school participated in the assembly. Ms. Kimberly Yip played the guzheng—a Chinese, plucked zither 64 inches long that commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings—while Ms. Shirley Wong played the yangqin—a trapezoidal-shaped, Chinese hammered dulcimer. The musicians performed a duet as well as solo pieces. 

Lower School AsIAm cast a spell over the auditorium for zodiac fortune telling. Taking turns at the podium, members of Lower School AsIAm stepped forward to offer zodiac fortune telling according to the Lunar New Year calendar. Providing birth years so the audience could determine their animal, students read fortunes and predictions for the year of the snake. As student’s birth years were called out, entire grades cheered and the audience had strong reactions to predictions of love, good fortune, conflict, and advice for the year ahead, which came from sources including the South China Morning Post and the Economic Times. 

A video highlighted club members engaging in all kinds of celebrations—making paper lanterns, eating favorite foods, creating elaborate nail art, putting up decorations, the gift-giving tradition of money-filled red envelopes for good luck, and fireworks shows. Students explained the monster Nian is frightened away by the color red and loud noises, which is said to be one of the reasons Lunar New Year is celebrated with bright red decorations and firecrackers. 

To close out assembly, both Lower School and Upper School students danced to popular songs like APT. by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars.

During Lower School and Upper School lunch periods, AsIAm hosted a variety of activity stations in the Valeria Knapp Trustees Room. Faculty, staff, and students were invited to stop by and practice Chinese calligraphy, craft paper lanterns, fold red envelopes, or browse children’s books about the holiday. 

Chef Heather indulgently created a Lunar New Year menu in the dining room that spanned two days of delicious food including dumplings, spring rolls, kimchi jeon—a savory kimchi pancake, and tteokguk—a Korean soup with oval rice cakes, among other delights. As students learned in assembly, the white rice cakes represent prosperity and good health.