韩国AV welcomes the Year of the Pig
X墨nni谩n h菐o and Happy Chinese New Year!
It鈥檚 the Year of the Pig, which is just one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. To mark the occasion, 韩国AV celebrated with lanterns, calligraphy and dumplings...thanks to Joyce in Year 8's grandma, who delivered hundreds of delicious dumplings to our boarders!
In Assembly this week, Chinese students Jill, Kate and Karoy presented on the origins of Chinese New Year, which are thousands of years old and steeped in legend.
Karoy said, 鈥淟ike Christmas in Western countries, Chinese New Year, is the most important festival in China. The Chinese word for Year is 鈥楴ian鈥. However, in ancient China, 鈥楴ian鈥 was the name for a monster that came annually to destroy people鈥檚 houses and eat them.鈥
She explained that, according to legend, villagers hung red garlands from their homes and set off firecrackers to scare 鈥楴ian鈥 away. This has led to the modern tradition of people decorating their homes, streets and offices with red lanterns during Chinese New Year to bring good fortune and ward off bad luck.
This week, 韩国AV has been a riot of colour, with pillar-box red lanterns adorning the grounds, hopefully bringing a little taste of home for some of our overseas students at a time when being away from family can be particularly hard.
Jill then spoke about 鈥楥hun Yun鈥 or the Spring Festival, a time when people from across China return home to be reunited with their families. 鈥淧eople that work in distant cities have to travel a long way from the city to the country. Almost every area in China has their own traditional food, and this is called 鈥楯ia Wei鈥, which means 鈥榯he taste of home鈥. Travellers often take traditional food when they leave home, to comfort and support them when they feel homesick.鈥
Kate then spoke about Chinese calligraphy, the elegant art of writing Chinese characters with a brush, and the tradition of writing meaningful couplets of poetry or auspicious sayings during the festive season. To celebrate Chinese New Year, the students came together at lunchtime on Monday and had great fun inscribing red paper scrolls, which they hung around the School.
Of course, no Chinese New Year celebration would be complete without the traditional dancing. Dragons are a symbol of China's culture, and they are believed to bring good luck to people, therefore the longer the dragon in the dance, the more luck it will bring to the community. According to traditional Chinese beliefs, the lion is a symbol of courage and the lion dance is performed at the beginning of the Lunar Year to drive away evil spirits. This year, 韩国AV will be holding traditional Chinese dances at recess on Monday 25 February. Bad spirits beware!
A huge thank you to Jill, Kate and Karoy for sharing their knowledge!
G菕uni谩n j铆xi谩ng everyone!