The Year of the Rabbit is a big celebration for Barstow’s Chinese classes.
Chinese New Year is a big holiday, and there are so many ways to celebrate it! Here at Barstow, 7th Grade Chinese students and teachers highlight how Barstow spent the Lunar New Year.
The Chinese calendar has 12 zodiac signs – the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Chinese mythology says that they were each given a place of honor in the calendar based on their order of arrival in a race to see which animals would be represented. The Lunar New Year represents the start of a new year. This year, it’s the Year of the Rabbit.
The food is definitely a big part of this time. There are so many yummy snacks to eat during this time. In Barstow’s Chinese class, students got to taste a white rabbit chewy candy, a lychee or mango jelly, rice crackers, hard candy, and noodle packs with three flavors (original, kimchi, and seaweed).
Lilly Simpson (‘28), Madeline Johnson (‘28), and Violet Hrabe (‘28), talk about their favorite snack pick this year. They all said this was their favorite aspect of the Chinese New year at Barstow: “There are so many yummy snacks that normally, I wouldn’t eat otherwise,” said Madeline Johnson (‘28), “The lychee jello and kimchi-flavored noodle packs are definitely the best.” Lilly Simpson (‘28) agrees, except she doesn’t like the noodle packs as much. Violet Hrabe (‘28), says, “I like to make and eat dumplings and bao buns.
There are also many special traditions that go along with Chinese New Year. The Barstow Chinese class has a tradition of making Chinese lanterns with sayings on them, some of which have to do with the Year of the Rabbit (2023). Madeline’s (‘28) lantern was yellow, and said “Prosperity in the Year of the Rabbit” in Chinese characters. Violet’s (‘28) was light blue and the idiom on there means “To advance by leaps and bounds.” Lilly’s (‘28) was purple and has to do with good luck in the new year.
The Chinese teachers at Barstow, Mr. and Mrs. Payne, both lived in Taiwan before coming to the U.S.A. To get their perspective, Mr. Payne talked about the ideal way to celebrate Chinese New Year and how they celebrated before coming here. Before Mr. Payne came here, every Chinese New Year, all sides of his family would get together and have a big family reunion dinner. “All the kids would get red envelopes with lucky Chinese sayings on them that were full of money,” he says. “The whole family would sit and eat and laugh together. Those are some of my favorite memories.” He also explains how people treat Chinese superstitions in Taiwan. “My family didn’t really do any. People did a big clean before, but they didn’t clean or wash their hair or clothes because it could ‘wash all the luck away’.” He also remembers nighttime superstitions. “I could whistle well, so sometimes in the night, I would walk and whistle. Neighbors would open their doors and scream at me for bringing ghosts in.”
Superstitions are also a big part of Chinese culture, especially Chinese New Year. It is customary not to wash clothes or sweep the house, because that is rumored to ‘wash or sweep’ luck away. Unlucky words (ex: saying ‘death’ supposedly brings death) are a no, and so is porridge, (because it brings poverty). Most people I interviewed said that they didn’t really “believe” any of these superstitions but they still respect the traditions. “I think that the superstitions make sense to people that really believe it, but I don’t really do any,” says Lilly Simpson (‘28).
Overall, the Year of the Rabbit is set to be a great year for the Barstow School. Stop by the Chinese Room (Room 116) and check out the Chinese New Year decorations!
