The new year has come and gone, but for many East and Southeast Asian students, the new year begins Saturday with the start of the Lunar New Year Festival. 

“Usually all of my family will get together to celebrate and we must always pray to our elders and say words of fortune in order to receive their blessings,” freshman Vinh-Hy Ton said. “We also do this because we believe the wisdom of our elders will bring us good health and fortune”.

Students from different cultures often have traditions for the new year that are unique to where they are from.

“I recently found out that the Singapore tradition of lo hei doesn’t take place anywhere else,” freshman Abigail Junan said via text. “It means prosperity toss in english and it is a food dish in which each element of the dish represents something good for the new year”. 

Although there are some differences between the way students celebrate the Lunar New Year, there are some traditions that are the same no matter where one goes, such as the giving of red envelopes.

“Many Chinese families in my community will get together to celebrate the new year and during the celebration we exchange “hong bao” or red envelopes,” freshman Lilya Ma said. “The envelope usually contains money given to signify prosperity and wealth in the new year”.