Jan. 29 marked the start of the Lunar New Year, which celebrates the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year according to the lunisolar calendar. 2025 is the year of the snake which represents releasing the past and regeneration.
DU’s Asian Student Alliance (ASA) celebrated the major holiday with many people from the community. The Friday night event started at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Commons, and the line to get in was out the door.
ASA catered several food options. For starters, there was Pate Chaud and Char Siu Bao. As an entree, attendees could choose between Bang Mi chicken or pork, chicken/vegetable/or beef fried rice, vegetable low mein, Mongolian beef or cashew chicken. To end the delicious meal, dessert options varied between red bean sesame balls, pineapple buns, egg tarts or almond cookies.
The festivities began after dinner, starting with a performance from DU Club Taekwondo. The team showcased their talents with a synchronized routine. Afterward, they invited audience members to participate.
The team taught the volunteers the correct way to punch, and then they were given a wooden board to break. After a couple of attempts, everyone was able to break the board, and the volunteers could keep their hard-earned remains.
Following club Taekwondo was a fan dancing performance by members of the GDPT Nguyen Thiêu Youth Group. This nonprofit organization is dedicated to promoting Vietnamese culture.
Fan dancing is a traditional form of Vietnamese folk dance, during which 4-5 women perform an intricate dance with fans.
The youth group’s fan dance was both an ode to Vietnamese culture and a celebration of the Lunar New Year. Despite some technical difficulties with the music, the performers quickly recovered and put on a flawless dance.
The festivities ended with the GDPT Nguyen Thiêu Youth Group’s lion dance. The traditional Vietnamese lion dance is often performed during the Lunar New Year. With complex and colorful costumes, the lion is typically accompanied by martial artists and acrobatics. This show is often used to ward off evil spirits.
The youth group truly captured the spirit of this dance. With their intricate costumes and infectious energy, the performance was certainly one to remember.
After the performances were over, ASA ended the event with closing remarks about the holiday. Thanks to all the hard work from ASA, the Lunar New Year celebration was a true hit, and it will be exciting to see what they do next.
