Lion dances, food and music ring in the year of the pig at WSU Vancouver
On Feb. 20, WSU Vancouver students and staff celebrated the Lunar New Year, with 2019 representing the year of the pig, in the Firstenburg Student Commons. Sujatha Shynne, a graduate management information systems student and an informational department tech at WSU Vancouver, organized and hosted the event.
“[Lunar New Year] is a Chinese New Year celebration. So, in the Lunar calendar most Asian people celebrate this new year as something new starting. It is a spring event so everything new starts,” Shynne explained.
Shynne has hosted several cultural events in the last year, like the Diwali festival, with the purpose of sharing new cultural holidays with the Vancouver campus and community.
Holly Ta, a human resource management major and one of the coordinators of the event, shared why she wanted to create a bigger event for Chinese culture on campus.
“Last year our Asian and Pacific Islander club hosted a small Chinese hangout event. But this year, Sujatha [Shynne] and I had the passion to make this bigger and to create more engagement and foster more community orientation for more Chinese culture on our campus,” Ta said.
Throughout the event various Lunar New Year traditions and customs were celebrated, such as authentic Chinese food, music and a traditional Chinese lion dance. The lion dance was performed by the Viet Hung Jr. dance group located in Portland, Oregon. Performers mimicked lion movements in colorful costumes while making loud noises with beating drums. WSU Vancouver adjunct faculty of Chinese language and culture, Willow Zheng, explained in a presentation at the start of the event how the dancing and loud drumming scares off the evil spirits and brings good fortune and a fresh start to the new year.
Shameem Rakha, WSU Vancouver department of education professor, delivered opening remarks at the start of the celebration.
“In a space such as this, on a campus such as ours, we need to celebrate and learn from our differences, rather than pretending we are all the same”
Shameem Rakha, WSU Vancouver department of education professor
“In a space such as this, on a campus such as ours, we need to celebrate and learn from our differences, rather than pretending we are all the same,” Rakha declared.
Pertaining to her message of inclusivity, Rakha observed WSU Vancouver’s failure to recognize Black History Month on campus. “As we celebrate Chinese New Year on this campus,” Rakha said, “We have, on this campus, failed to recognize that February is Black History Month.”
Noting the exciting events like the Lunar New Year that bring authentic food, music and lion dances to WSU Vancouver, Rakha questioned if VanCoug’s are doing enough to recognize the rich culture and ethnic groups surrounding the campus community on a day to day basis.
“We have students who are black on this campus. All apart of a group who have been historically, systematically, institutionally and individually minoritized and marginalized within the community and on this campus. Yet, there is no celebration of that rich history and resilient group of people… Any one of us could have looked around and thought ‘who is celebrating Black History Month?’”
Shynee shared her thoughts on Rakha’s speech and related it to the core message of the event, which she said ultimately was creating inclusivity for other minority groups on campus.
“I wanted to teach others that we are all different and when we bring different culture and understand different culture, we become well-rounded people… I think teaching and learning happens when you do something like this,” Shynee said about the celebratory event.
Shynee said she hopes to continue these types of events for the purpose of educating and celebrating different cultures that are shared by WSU Vancouver students.
Emily is a senior studying integrated strategic communication at WSU Vancouver.