The Chinese Chapter of BYU–Hawaii celebrated the beginning of the year of the monkey, which begins Feb. 8, helping students from other parts of the world understand and appreciate an annual tradition.
The night began with performances by musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments. Afterwards, Professor Ban Phung and his family performed a traditional lion dance, which symbolizes strength, stability, and superiority, according to CBC.
Afterwards, Narendra Saputra Mongan of Indonesia, Jian Wei Tandric Bench of Indonesia, and Ben Papeo of Italy demonstrated their martial arts skills. As a substitute for fireworks, balloons were popped. The loud noises are believed to scare away the legendary creature, “Nien,” explained the Malibu Times.
All single attendees received small red envelopes called “hong bao” with lucky fake money inside. The envelopes were red because the color symbolizes good luck.
Zou Su Ke, a freshman from China majoring in political science, said, “The older generation will give the younger generation a small red package with money inside; maybe at least $100 to each of the cousins. Good thing I don’t have a lot of cousins.”
The Western New Year is celebrated at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar, whereas the Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, is celebrated at the commencement of the traditional Chinese calendar, which is luni-solar, following the movement of the sun and the moon, explained the Huffington Post.
2016 is dubbed the year of the monkey because the Chinese zodiac is comprised of 12 years, each year being correlated with a different animal. These animals include the tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, and ox.
Each year in China, a colossal migration takes place as people rush to reunite with their loved ones. As reported by Reuters, this mass migration will start on Jan. 24 and will continue until March 3, with an estimated 2.91 billion passengers catching trains to and from the main railway station in Beijing.
Vivian Choi, a senior majoring in intercultural communications from Hong Kong, said, “Chinese New Year means a lot to the family. Everyone stops their work because they all work far away, and then they all go home for the New Year. It just feels so warm…it’s like Christmas here.” The Lunar New Year is also celebrated in other parts of Asia.
Josh Andrus, a freshman from Japan who has yet to declare a major, explained, “In Japan…people get together as a family, and then watch TV all day. It’s an excuse for some to get drunk, and to have party time inside of the house. Some people do crazy things.”
Chinese New Year celebrations are found in Chinatowns throughout the world. The largest celebration outside of China is located in London, wrote the South China Morning Post.
The annual Chinatown New Year’s Celebration in Honolulu was held at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza on Beretania St. on Feb. 5 and 6. As explained by the Latin Times and specified by the Chinese zodiac, for those born in monkey years 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, and 2016, intelligence and cleverness are predestined attributes. Also, mischievousness’ and arrogance are fated weaknesses.
Due to personality traits associated with each year, some superstitious parents in China strategically plan when to conceive a child, wrote the Associated Press. In 2015, there were 16.55 million births, whereas in 2014 there were 16.87, recorded China’s national statistics.
State media within China hypothesized the drop in childbirths was due to the year of the sheep, which is associated with docility and followership. The year of the monkey is thought of as more favorable and promising, and conducive to leadership, wrote The Korea Herald.