National Chinese Honor Society hosted a celebration of the recent Chinese New Year. The event featured a variety of informative quizzes, Chinese music and crafts designed to help start the new year on a good note.

NCHS member and junior Emily Yao explained the main aspects of the Chinese New Year being celebrated at the event.

“This holds a lot of significance …,” Yao said, “because the main thing about Chinese New Year is a new bright future with a lot of opportunity for prosperity and good luck.”

The promise of good fortune and prosperity can be represented through the paper lanterns created at the event. Fun crafts such as these show how the celebration of Chinese New Year also serves as a great time for bringing people together.

Yao said that Chinese New Year is a major holiday for many Asian countries, celebrating the end of the Chinese lunar calendar.

“It’s usually the one time in the year when everybody in the Asian Hemisphere gets a day off and can go home and spend time with their family,” Yao said. “That’s the main significance that Chinese New Year has.”