Asian Studies Workshop Celebrates Lunar New Year

University of Scranton students, faculty and staff learned about the ways in which different Asian cultures and traditions celebrate the Lunar New Year at the Asian New Year Festival and Workshop held on campus in the spring semester. The program included hands-on lessons on Chinese calligraphy and Japanese origami related to the Year of the Tiger and a chopstick competition.

According to Ann Pang-White, Ph.D., director of Asian Studies and professor of philosophy at The University of Scranton, many Asian cultures celebrate the New Year differently, however, there is more consensus around the meaning of the tiger in the Chinese zodiac.

The event also included presentations about Asia’s chopstick culture and the meaning of chopsticks, how new year is celebrated in Japan, and how it is celebrated in China and Taiwan. Instructors and students from the Japanese and Chinese classes at Scranton assisted with the hands-on portion of the workshop.

WBRE/WYOU News reporter Madonna Mantione covered the workshop.

The workshop was co-sponsored by the departments of Asian Studies and World Languages and Cultures.