The Chinese New Year (CNY) which fell on 23rd Jan this year is one of the most important festivals for the Chinese community. It heralds the beginning of the New Year. Traditionally, it is ushered in with a family reunion dinner and festive celebrations lasting 15 days. Little Bodhi Student Care Centre had a festive Chinese New Year celebration on 27 January to welcome the Year of the Rabbit.
Prior to the celebration, our Little Bodhi teachers held talks to explain the different rituals and stages of preparations that lead to the CNY. The centre is mindful that our non-local students may not be familiar with the local Chinese culture. Thus, the teachers incorporated talks where the students were taught important traditions like spring cleaning, decorating the house with red which is considered an auspicious colour, the family reunion dinner, tossing of Yusheng and saying the proper greetings to the elders when giving out oranges and accepting Hong Baos.
Adrenaline was high on the day of the CNY celebration. The highlight of the celebration was the appearance of two ‘lions’ at the centre. The lion dance performance in the classes brought the house down! This year, our P6 boys Lew Joo Kang and Low Kang Sheng, trained a few upper primary boys for the lion dance performance. The boys worked hard for the past few weeks before the celebration as they did not want to disappoint their fellow students at the centre. On that day, to the loud sounds of drums and cymbals, the lions came prancing into the classes to the delight of the students. The students leapt for joy as they welcomed the two lions with oranges and also red packets. The younger students even tried to hold the lion captive and not let it leave their class!
After the exciting lion dance performance, the celebration continued. The students enjoyed a few other activities that included making origami rabbits, origami ingots and upcycled red packets into prosperity bags and Chinese New Year decorations.
It was definitely a great start to welcome the Year of the Rabbit and we wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year!
The students rushed over to welcome the lions
Hong Baos, anyone?
Feeding the lions oranges
The lower Primary students could not get enough of the friendly red lion
Happy faces welcoming the lions
Thank you, Lew Joo Kang Low Kang Sheng for leading the lion dance troupe!
Our lion dance troupe
The students happily showcasing some of their handicrafts
The Primary 1s with their craftwork
Gong Xi Fa Cai from us to you
Happy Chinese New Year to all!
March 27, 2023