Lunar New Year is this weekend, and we’re getting geared up for celebrating. This year’s new year lands on January 28, so this evening marks the countdown to the Chinese new year. Although Americans usually celebrate New Year on January 1st, Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, so it lands on the same night as the first new moon of the year. This year ushers out the year of the monkey and begins the year of the Rooster.
In China, Lunar New Year celebrations feature parades and fireworks, and special family dinners called the “reunion dinner,” meant to be the most important meal of the year. The color red also plays an important roll, as towns hang red lanterns, and hangs sheet of red paper with poetry on them. People also give children red envelopes, with good wishes for the coming year. Traditional foods eaten for new year include oranges and tangerines which are said to bring luck, and long noodles, or “longevity noodles,” which symbolize a hope for long life.
Purdue Dining & Catering celebrated the event this week with special foods. The Gathering Place served a week-long menu of Far East Faire, featuring food such as Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs and Sweet Chili Bang Bang Shrimp. The dining courts also created a menu for the New Year that they served today at lunch. Some menu items included Asian Barbecue Duck Pizza, Ma Po Tofu, Crab Rangoon, and Charsui Bao.
Next week, the Gathering Place is hosting a Super Bowl Tailgate Week, and providing food like corn on the cob and pigs in a blanket, so make sure you check it out!
Are you celebrating Lunar New Year? Leave us a comment!
Have a good week everyone!
Sarah & Amanda
Purdue Dining & Culinary 