In order to celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year, the Korean Student Union (KSU) planned out a three-day cultural extravaganza to share their traditions with the greater UR community!
The festivities kicked off on Friday with a group of students setting up three tables in Hirst Lounge (one for Korea, one for Japan, and one for China) to educate passersby on the New Year’s traditions of each of these Asian countries. Guests were invited to add their name and phone numbers to red paper slips to be included in a raffle to win two adorable notebooks, and there was a selection of Hi-Chew and classic guava hard candies spread out on the tables for taking.
One student displayed a poster on her iPad that read gong xi fa cai, which translates to “wishing you prosperity in the coming year” in Mandarin, and “wishing you happiness and prosperity” in Cantonese. The saying was surrounded by adorable cartoon rabbits in shades of red and pink, as the new year will be the Year of the Rabbit!
The second day of the festival was all about cooking, and students were invited to sign up to congregate at 6 p.m. in the community kitchen in Douglass Commons to learn how to cook some traditional Asian cuisine. Some of the dishes that were advertised included tteokguk, a savory soup of rice cakes soaked in broth which is eaten in Korea to ring in the new year, and red bean ice cream.
The third and final day of the festival was centered around learning how to play traditional Asian games! Members of KSU hosted and taught people how to play gonggi, a popular Korean children’s game played with pebbles, and yutnori, a traditional Korean board game.
Be sure to wish your peers that celebrate a happy Lunar New Year on Sunday, Jan. 22!
