DAWN NGUYEN/THE CREIGHTONIAN
The Creighton Intercultural Center honored tradition through their Lunar New Year celebration, hosting cultural dancers, martial arts exhibitions, food, and ringing in the Year of the Fire Horse.
Creighton University kicked off the Lunar New Year with a fun-and-food-filled celebration hosted by the Creighton Intercultural Center (CIC) to honor the Year of the Horse and uplift Asian cultures with traditional dances, a meal and education.
“Lunar New Year is one of the most important festivals in a lot of Asian countries, celebrated with family, reunions, feasts, fireworks. … I love being able to amplify the stories of all of the students and their cultures and their identities,” Mario Alejandre, the CIC’s director, said at Saturday’s event in the Skutt Student Center Ballroom.
The lively celebration was attended by both members of the Creighton community and the broader Omaha community, and attendees shared the sentiment that amplifying all the students’ cultures is important.
“I was really curious just to learn more about the Asian culture as coming from [that] background … and I really do just appreciate the way that Creighton does represent all different cultures,” Kara Crepeau, a sophomore in the Heider College of Business, said. “I think it’s very important just because Creighton has students that come from all across the United States and even globally, so having each culture be represented is cool. Also, we’re able to see different cultures. If someone isn’t from the Asian culture, they’re able to learn more about it.”
The evening featured several cultural performances from various organizations in Nebraska.
The first was a lion dance, where costumed performers danced through the audience, posing for pictures and dancing with lion-esque movements. One of the “lions” even leapt onto and then off of a platform made from red benches. The lion dance is said to ward off evil, promote prosperity and luck, symbolize power and vitality and celebrate community and identity, according to CIC signage at the event.
The lion dance was followed by a performance from a Lincoln-based Vietnamese dance troupe, the Pink Ladies.
“The song that they’re going to perform is talking about best wishes for everyone during Lunar New Year, how beautiful spring in Vietnam is and all the many flowers and happiness [in the celebration]. This song serves as an invitation for you to … experience the beauty of Vietnam,” Alejandre said when he introduced the troupe.
The dancers wore beautiful pink, white and blue dresses and danced with pink fans shaped like flower petals.
Next, the Omaha Kung Fu Academy demonstrated some of their techniques and discussed applications of those techniques. Then a Karen dance group showcased a bamboo dance. Holding the flag of the Karen National Union, dancers moved in and out of a bamboo grid. The bamboo was rhythmically moved by performers sitting on the ground.
The last three performances were Filipino dances put on by the Filipino Heritage Foundation. Their performances included a tinikling dance, the national dance of the Philippines, and sayaw sa payong, also known as the umbrella dance. During these dances the performers moved elegantly, captivating the audience.
Each performance of the evening was met with loud applause and big smiles from the crowd.
“It was really cool to see all of the performers today,” Crepeau said.
While watching the performers, the event’s attendees had the opportunity to a buffet of cuisine from multiple Asian cultures. The dishes were important to the Lunar New Year celebration, including things such as longevity noodles to represent a long, healthy life; mandarin oranges to represent luck, success and prosperity; and veggie and chicken spring rolls to represent wealth.
“The food was really good,” Crepeau said. “It definitely showcases the diverse way that the different Asian cultures [eat and celebrate], and it was cool to try them out.”
Attendees had the opportunity to continue eating, participate in trivia, mingle with each other and learn more from the kung fu academy, who displayed some of their weapons at a table, after the performances concluded. There were also signs explaining the Lunar New Year traditions of China, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea and Singapore to help people learn more about how this holiday is celebrated.
Based on the lunar calendar, the Lunar New Year falls on a different day each year and follows a 12-year cycle of zodiac signs. This year is the Year of the Fire Horse.
“The symbol of the horse represents speed, strength, independence [and] symbols of passion and ambition,” Alejandre said. “The CIC and Creighton University is wishing everyone a joyful and prosperous Year of the Horse.”