Happy belated Lunar New Year from the Media Team! Today’s article will cover all you need to know about the LNY festivities and how Island School celebrated the spring festival this year!
Chinese Lunar Year, Spring Festival, and Lunar New Year are all terms used to refer to the festival celebrated by many countries worldwide, including Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, China, and more! The dates for LNY are different each year, as the Chinese calendar is based on the moon’s 12 phases which consist of about 354 days in a year. This is a time when families reunite together for dinners and gatherings to celebrate the new year!
Now let’s dive into some interesting facts about the year of the snake! This Chinese zodiac is most commonly associated with intelligence, creativity, determination, and love. Did you know that there are different types of snakes based on the Chinese elements (wood, fire, water, metal, and earth)? These elemental animals follow a 60-year cycle, this year we welcome once again the year of the wood snake. Celebrities born under the sign of the snake include Mahatma Gandhi, Pablo Picasso, Anne Frank, John F Kennedy, J.K. Rowling, Taylor Swift, and more!
HK has many unique celebrations regarding celebrating the LNY including fireworks (Jan 30th), the Tai Po wishing tree, the many distinct flower markets all over HK, and the CNY night parade in Tsim Sha Tsui.
This year the culture team at Island School set up an abundance of activities for the Island School community to enjoy during the CNY week. Activities consisted of photo booths, plushie stalls, lion dance, student and staff performances, and crafts stalls. The week ended with the annual LNY assembly featuring three unique chinese dances and dress traditional day, where students came to school dressed in an array of vibrant, colorful outfits.
Lastly, after interviewing Natasha Lam (head of culture) we were able to find out some of the challenges the team faced when organizing events like these. She said that common challenges consist of the organization of events, communication with staff/student volunteers, organizing the order of events, and publicity!
Now that’s a wrap for this year’s Lunar New Year article, filled with insights into celebrations in Island School and a ton of LNY facts!
https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/china/article/3295411/year-of-snake-2025/index.html
https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/celebrations/lunar-new-year-celebration
