IFI will be helping Asian international students who are far from home to celebrate one of their "most significant holidays of the year” the Lunar New Year, on Friday, Feb. 12th. The Lunar calendar is so named because it follows the changes of the moon. Lunar comes from the Latin word luna, meaning moon. More interestingly, many countries who have a Lunar New Year holiday consider it more important than January 1st!
In China they designate an animal as the symbol for the year. They rotate though 12 animals, using a new one each year. Since this year is the Year of the Ox, there will be decorations depicting an Ox. Many people are familiar with the Chinese Lunar New Year; however, it is also celebrated in many Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and other countries, for many years.
Over time different cultures have found their own way of honoring the holiday. For example, in China they make and eat dumplings with a coin in them for good luck, but in S. Korea they eat soup with thinly sliced rice cakes that have the round shape of coins, which follows the tradition of putting a brass coin in the rice cake to wish people a fruitful year. In Japan they eat Mirror Rice Cakes with a large mocha middle and citrus at the top to bring good luck. Also in both China and Vietnam they clean and decorate the house in special ways to get rid of bad fortune or spirits.
If you want to learn more about how people from other cultures such as India and the Middle East celebrate, watch for posts on the IFI Columbus Facebook page.
