Throughout the week of Feb. 22, Aragon honored the Lunar New Year, a festival celebrating the beginning of the new year in Asian countries and around the world. Aragon staff and members of the Aragon Asian Parent Group collaborated to put together a week of activities including campus decorating, informational videos, a performance by the chamber orchestra and a lion dance performance.
“It felt great to perform [at] the Lunar New Year performance [and] especially seeing so many people watching and supporting,” said junior Lawrence Ma. “As someone who celebrates Lunar New Year, it meant a lot to me to showcase and express how amazing this holiday is with everybody through music.”
While Lunar New Year began on Feb. 1 this year, celebrations at Aragon were not able to begin right away. Leadership put together red envelopes, symbols of good luck often given out during Lunar New Year, before Lunar New Year was officially celebrated at Aragon.
“The dragon dancers are a really important part of the Lunar New Year,” said Activities Director and leadership teacher Melissa Perino.
“Because we were so late in the game and it takes so long to organize vendor contracts and to get that approved [by the] District, we decided to move Lunar New Year back two weeks in order to get everything organized.”
Aragon staff such as Perino, Chinese teacher Qi Fan and Director of Orchestras and Choirs John Chen were lead organizers. Aragon Chamber Orchestra performed traditional Lunar New Year music during lunch on Feb. 24 in Center Court.
Fan’s Chinese class and Chinese Culture Club officers wrote characters on red envelopes and stuffed them with candy. Fan reached out to the AAPG to arrange for the lion dance performance and to decorate the school.
“I hope that we as a community can celebrate and learn from one another and make for a more connected and safer community,” Perino said. “We were talking about the violence that that was triggered in America, with violence against Asian American Pacific Islander students and families. That was not okay and one of the surest ways to combat that is through education, experience, celebrating and honoring Lunar New Year as one of many examples.”
The AAPG is focused on enhancing Aragon students’ cultural, educational and academic experience. The group has provided educational seminars, internship opportunities, student panels and much more.
“I hope [students get] an appreciation for significant festivities and cultural events from other countries, whether that be the giving of the red envelopes, or even observing the performances that generally occur within the community,” said AAPG member Bryant Wong. “For those who are of Asian descent, hopefully it brings them a little bit closer to their roots, and for those who are not, they can get a little bit of exposure to how a different culture celebrates.”
“They can get a little bit of exposure to how a different culture celebrates”
Other events celebrating culture such as Días de los Muertos and Black History Month are celebrated at Aragon, representing students and their different traditions.
“If Aragon decides to start this tradition to share different cultures, it would be eye opening to the Aragon community, [allowing] students to not only see themselves represented in our community, but also to show [what other cultures] attend Aragon,” said sophomore Antonio Tejeda.
The Lunar New Year celebration, representing Asian culture around the world, was an informative week of entertainment and representation. Aragon hopes to continue honoring students’ various cultural events.
