After a year-long hiatus, dancers, artists, and other performers graced the Pause Main Stage once again for the annual Lunar New Year celebration on March 5, bringing students together for a night of energy, joy, and reflection.
The Lunar New Year celebration is a collaborative event put on by a mix of different organizations across campus. This year, the Chinese Student & Culture Communication Association (CSCA), the Korean Culture Association (KCA), the Team Tibet (TT), the Vietnamese Culture Organization (VCO), the D-VINE dance crew, and the St. Olaf Taiko Club all collaborated to put on the celebration. The Asian American Student Union (ASU) handled much of the event’s planning, from organizing the different performances to solidifying the night’s emcees to managing the celebration’s volunteers.
Being able to bring this celebration in 2022 offered these organizations the chance to showcase each of their unique traditions and the true multiculturalism of the Lunar New Year at St. Olaf. Acts in the celebration ranged from a taiko drum performance by the St. Olaf Taiko Club to a group dance with KCA and D-VINE to a violin, piano, and vocal song that evoked themes from “Big Fish & Begonia,” a Chinese animated film and story.
Putting together this celebration in 2022 had a heightened importance after a painful two years for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
“I think it’s critical now more so than other years because we’ve had such a rise in AAPI hate and because AAPI visibility has also come into play,” ASU Secretary Anja Dulin ’23 said.
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and RACE Program Advisor Vivian Choi spoke about recent AAPI hate and the impact of community building to introduce the celebration in light of these themes.
“Racism isn’t a virus,” Choi said during the speech. “It isn’t just a pandemic. It is endemic. So in light of this we might think of community-building as solidarity-building.”
Dulin also remarked on how the event impacts different communities across St. Olaf.
“[The celebration] is for those who are white or non-Asian Americans, but it also is a celebration for those who are international students or those who are Asian Americans from around the states who are missing this tradition,” Dulin said. “It’s an event that makes St. Olaf feel more at home for them as well, so it kind of hits both groups.”
Alongside the introductory speech by Choi and the different group performances, the organizers hosted a Kahoot game with different questions about Asian culture in which over 150 people participated and then served food for audience members at the end of the show. Fricka Lindemann ’22 was in the audience for the celebration and appreciated the context and the food offered during the event.
“Having Professor Choi speak in the beginning was a good opener to set the stage for everything that followed, which was more lighthearted but to keep us all reminded that things happen in a global context,” Lindemann said. “And then of course it’s always nice to finish off an event like that with food that is related, so they had food offerings that made everyone happy.”
This Lunar New Year event stands out at St. Olaf as a primary way for students to gather in celebration and joy while sharing their unique cultures and reflecting on the multicultural nature of the Lunar New Year holiday.
“At the beginning of every year when we talk about our club, the New Year celebration is always one of the most important things we mention to people to let them know that as part of the AAPI community, you have the stage where you can show your ability and show your talent,” said Christina Zhen ’22, CSCA Co-Chair and a performer in the celebration. “You don’t need to care about how people judge you because not everyone always understands. On the stage you feel free to express your emotions.”
