Prospectus
Chinese New Year
The Year of the Rabbit
Chinese New Year this year was on 3rd February, and it’s the year of the rabbit.
During the first week of February, two assemblies were run by our Mandarin Chinese teacher, Kathryn Chen, for Year 10 and Year 12 students. During these assemblies, 10 students from Year7, who have timetabled Mandarin Chinese lessons, sang “ Happy New Year” in Chinese! They impressed all the students and staff who were present. In addition, a short video was shown which informed the students about why and how Chinese people celebrate their most important festival. During sixth form assembly, Kathryn Chen spoke not only about Chinese New Year, but also about many exciting aspects of China and its culture. We anticipate that some of our students will get the opportunity to travel or even study in China.
At SunDowns after school club we celebrated Chinese New Year. We had a lady that came in to help us make Chinese Lanterns, We made them with bright colourful paper and then we added glitter to the paint we decorated them with as this made them stand out. We made Chinese Dragons out of card and paper also decorating them with bright paint and glitter. A competition was held to find the best dragon. We hung all our decorations up in the canteen so that everyone knew it was Chinese New Year. We all had a go at making origami rabbits, which didn’t go to plan, we had some funny shaped rabbits, but we had a lot of fun trying to make them!
On Chinese New Year, 3rd February 2011, we went up to food tech to sample some Chinese food. We all had a go at cooking stir fry while the rest of the food was being prepared for us. We sampled stir fry, spring rolls, prawn toasts, sweet and sour chicken, egg fried rice, sweet chilli beef, chicken chow mein and some other prawn dishes. While we were enjoying our food we looked at some Chinese money and looked at the Chinese calendar, we used the calendar to find out the animal of our birth year, it was great getting to understand another countries culture.
We all enjoy After School Club and we have lots of fun and laughter and make new friends.
by Lillani
Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated by families as a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.
