7th annual festival has food, fireworks

From the Davidson College news office:

Davidson College students and faculty hope to spread good fortune with an evening of Asian culinary treats and dance performances in celebration of the Lunar New Year on Sunday evening, Feb. 18.

Members of the public are invited to attend this seventh annual celebration, which is sponsored by the East Asian Studies Program, the Asian Cultural Awareness Association (ACAA), and the Dean Rusk International Studies Program. There is no admission charge. For more information, call 704-894-2440.

“All of the festivities around the Lunar New Year are designed to bring good luck,” said Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science and
the director of the East Asian Studies Program.

The festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Alvarez College Union Smith 900 Room with servings of bubble tea, and East Asian food prepared by local restaurants. There will be face painting, guessing games, and paper lantern making.

The celebration continues at 6 p.m. with dances by the Little Lotus dance group and Phoenix Performing Arts Academy. There will also be a fashion show, and a traditional lion dance in which performers parade in a costume in the shape of a lion’s body. The lion dance is rooted in a Chinese legend about a great monster that disrupted a small village. Because lions are considered good luck in Chinese culture, the Lion Dance is performed as a New Year’s ritual to prevent the monster from returning.

The celebration will conclude with a fireworks display beginning at 7 p.m.

The evening is designed to give the community insight into Asian culture and its New Year’s traditions. Asian people organize their festivals according to the Lunar Calendar, and celebrate the first day of the New Year on the night of its first full moon.

Professor Rigger said, “I hope that community members will see that there is a thriving interest in Asian culture on the campus, and enjoy learning how a different culture celebrates the arrival of the New Year.”