Community Unites for Lunar New Year Celebration (Photos)
The Rose Room inside Brennan Hall on Feb. 19 was filled with more than 100 attendees at The University of Scranton’s Lunar New Year celebration. The festive evening included themed meals, workshops, presentations and hands-on activities to commemorate and learn more about the widely celebrated holiday.More than 100 individuals, spanning both The University of Scranton and Greater Scranton communities, gathered in Brennan Hall’s Rose Room on Feb. 19 to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Hosted by the Asian studies program and the Department of World Languages and Cultures, the festive event featured Asian cuisine, cultural presentations and hands-on activities including a lively chopstick relay, horse-themed origami, calligraphy and lantern decorating.
Ann A. Pang-White, Ph.D., professor of philosophy and director of the Asian studies program, noted that volunteers from the Asia Club and Japanese and Chinese classes arrived at 5 p.m. for setup. The event began at 6:30 p.m.
“It is a selfless service for others,” Dr. Pang-White said.
The festivities also included Chih-Yi (Arena) Wu and Kazumasa Fujita, instructors in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, leading presentations and workshops that “captured the audience’s attention and made the evening a great success,” Dr. Pang-White said.
“We are grateful for the University’s support for this important holiday and cultural marker for East Asian community,” she continued. “It is truly a manifestation of our Jesuit mission of ‘finding God in all things’ and ‘care for the whole person (cura personalis),’ in real action in real world that touches the shared life of spirit, body and mind of the members in our community.”
Lunar New Year is one of the most important events in China and for Chinese communities around the world. This year marks the Year of the Horse.
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