Lunar New Year party celebrates Asian cultures

Year of the horse welcomed in West Windsor.

By: Gwen Runkle
   WEST WINDSOR — More than 100 people turned out to say goodbye to the year of the snake and welcome in the year of the horse as part of a Lunar New Year celebration at the township Senior Center on Saturday.
   The event, sponsored by the township’s Human Relations Council, aimed to bring a taste of the Asian holiday to the entire township and featured more than 10 performances of traditional songs and dances, along with demonstrations of tai chi and tae kwon do.
   "I think today’s celebration was a terrific reflection of the diversity in our community," said Nord Winnan, a West Windsor resident whose daughter, Brynja, was one of the event’s performers. "I really enjoyed this personally and think it’s wonderful to be able to celebrate the various Asian cultures."
   The Lunar New Year is traditionally celebrated in several Asian countries, including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, and officially starts today. The lunar calendar is also one of the longest chronological records in history, dating back 4,700 years.
   A complete cycle of the lunar calendar takes 60 years and is made up of five cycles of 12 years. Each of the 12 years is named after an animal, which makes up the calendar’s zodiac.
   "According to Chinese legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him before he departed from the earth and only 12 showed up," said Charlotte Goldstein, chair of the Human Relations Council. "As a reward, he named a year after each one in the order they arrived.
   "Many Chinese believe the year of your birth is the prominent factor in determining your personality and physical and mental attributes as well as whether you will have success or happiness throughout your lifetime," she added. "People born in the year of the horse are strong-willed and independent."
   Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh kicked off Saturday’s celebrations in the Municipal Building with a proclamation ceremony that was followed by a lion dance.
   Spurred on by crashing cymbals played by Wei-ling Wu, a Chinese language teacher at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and High School South, four students from High School South filled out two lion costumes and ran about the lobby of the Municipal Building in a colorful flurry of sequins and fabric.
   "The lion dance is traditionally performed to get rid of evil," said Mayor Hsueh. "Given all that’s happened, I think it’s very important to get rid of evil this year. It’s important for our community to come together."
   The lions then roared over to the Senior Center, where celebrations continued.
   Chinese language students from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and High School South performed a handkerchief dance, followed by a tai chi demonstration led by Mayor Hsueh.
   Then, fourth-grade Chinese language students from the Upper Elementary School in Plainsboro sang a happy New Year song; Yanzhi Hu, Wei Yuan, David Ellis and Mike Harrison, all High School South students, sang "To Be Heroes"; and Brianna Steinhilber and Christina Gil, both students at Community Middle School, sang "You Make Me Free."
   Next the HuaXia Plainsboro Chinese School Dance Team performed a JiaoDong fan dance and the Princeton Korean Folk Dance School performed a Korean fan dance.
   The dance troops were followed by Jean Sze, a South Brunswick resident, who played the zheng, a 5-foot-long Chinese string instrument, and Wang Min, a West Windsor resident and professional Chinese opera singer, who dazzled the crowd with her powerful voice.
   Yoshie Driscoll, a Princeton resident, performed a Japanese dance and the HuaXia Plainsboro Chinese School Dance Team again took center stage, this time with a XinJiang dance.
   The performances ended with a tae kwon do demonstration from the United Black Belt Taekwondo School.
   The township’s Lunar New Year celebration concluded with a potluck lunch courtesy of food donated by Sunny Garden Restaurant, Hot Wok Cafe, First Who, Good Friend Restaurant and the Korean State Farm Market.