On the evening of Jan. 28, the Asian Student Union (ASU) — in collaboration with the local advocacy organization AAPI Youth Rising (AYR) — hosted Miramonte’s first Lunar New Year Night Market to ring in the Year of the Snake. The event included booths made by the Mandarin classes showcasing Lunar New Year traditions, complimentary catered food, ASU’s annual boba fundraiser, and live music and dance performances by students.
ASU organized the event to celebrate Lunar New Year, a festival prevalent in many East Asian and Southeast Asian cultures that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. They partnered with AYR, a student-led organization created to teach Asian American and Pacific Islander history in schools and advocate against anti-Asian violence.
As food is a central part of Lunar New Year festivities, with many dishes believed to bring good luck and prosperity, ASU provided dinner from restaurants in Oakland’s Chinatown. The buffet offered Chinese chicken salad, fried rice, mango and coconut jelly, egg custard buns, long noodles (yi miàn) — symbolizing longevity and a healthy life — and potstickers (jiaozi), symbolizing wealth and prosperity. Additionally, some ASU members brought homemade foods, including spring rolls (chūn juǎn) and sesame mochi, which both symbolize good fortune.
After students and their families were done eating, members of Symphony of Service, a Miramonte club, performed several contemporary songs by Chinese and Taiwanese artists. Junior Janie Luo played two songs on piano, junior Sam Cao played a song on the violin and junior Chloe Lu sang a song in Mandarin. “I chose to sing ‘Ju Hua Tai’ (Chrysanthemum Flower Bed) by Jay Chou…It’s a song I’m familiar with because I always listened to it growing up,” Lu said.
“My favorite part of the night was the live [music] performances. The entire room went quiet as the performers played, and we got to appreciate the art and talent of the people around us. It was refreshing to enjoy the art and culture without the usual school stress,” ASU Co-president and senior Ava Kim said.
Next, Campolindo senior and AYR Committee Lead Matthew Sugiyama delivered a presentation on the organization and its goals of educating classrooms across the nation about Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history and speaking out against hate-fueled violence targeted at Asian Americans today. AYR worked with ASU on the Lunar New Year Night Market to create an opportunity to recruit new chapter leaders and members for AYR while bringing together Lamorinda’s Asian American community. “Miramonte has such a huge Asian population, and I feel like oftentimes we’re not as represented despite [that]… ASU and AYR can provide a new light on that area that we haven’t really seen before… and spread the word about AAPI history and culture,” AYR Committee Lead and junior Reed Chan said.
Finally, Mandarin students and juniors Hugo Shen and Alexander Lian performed the lion dance, a traditional Chinese dance meant to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits. They moved in synchrony under a Chinese lion costume, consisting of a grinning golden head and a long piece of fabric to act as the lion’s body, to create the illusion of one cohesive creature. To keep the dancers in time, scare evil spirits, and create a sense of festivity, Cao and other juniors and Symphony of Service members Anthony Chow and Calvin Lai played the traditional Chinese drum tanggu (tánggǔ), the gong (luó) and the Chinese hand cymbals (xiǎo bó), respectively.
This year, ASU wanted to expand beyond their annual boba fundraiser for Lunar New Year and take the next step in bring the Miramonte community together with the Night Market. The club spent the last month organizing the activities and guests before advertising the event, both through Leadership and with flyers hung around campus. “We wanted to have a space where a lot of people could come and learn about Lunar New Year culture,” Kimball said.
The ASU plans to hold a larger Lunar New Year Night Market next year to celebrate the start of spring and the Year of the Horse. “I think spreading culture is very important, especially since our school has tried to focus more on diversity. I think that more events like this create a better environment overall for the student body,” junior and Symphony of Service performer Janie Luo said.
