Arts

Lunar New Year Festivities

Bubble Tea and Chinese Buns

The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) joined in the celebration of the Lunar New Year last Tuesday by serving bubble tea and Chinese buns in the Freeman Room.

“I like to think of the library as a place or a platform where all kinds of different conversations can happen, so we thought one interesting thing to do to celebrate culture would be to turn the Freeman Room into a Chinese cafe. What really became of it was just a really long line for bubble tea. But the effort behind is to think of the library as a place of culture, a place where people can come and learn about new things like culture and technology,” said Michael Barker, director of the OWHL.

“[I really liked] the fact that the library was willing to bring in such a big event and how they allowed students to better understand [Chinese] culture. It was nice to have bubble tea and [buns] and things like that and normally things I only see at home in school,” said Anna Lang ’19.

Lion Dance

In addition to co-organizing the charity dinner on Saturday, the Chinese Language Club (CLC) also celebrated the Lunar New Year on campus by organizing a lion dance performance, a Lunar New Year tradition, in Paresky Commons on Wednesday.

“We had the lion dance in [Paresky] Commons two years ago, and it was really popular among faculty, staff, and students… This year, using money from an Abbot Grant, we [had] students from a martial arts studio in Andover come and do the lion dance, so it’s really great to be supporting a local business and creating a connection with them for years to come,” said Kaela Olsen ’18, a board member of CLC.

Under the steady beat of a pounding drum, two students from the Andover martial arts studio shuffled around the lobby of Paresky dressed in a shimmering, light blue Chinese lion costume. As the lion approached the crowds on either side of the lobby, its long and fluffy eyelids flapped up and down as if blinking to the faculty, staff, and students who were watching. As the beat of the drum slowed down, the lion lowered onto its side to sleep.

“When I was younger, my parents would take me to Chinatown around Chinese New Year and we would see the lion dances in the street, and everybody would come out of their shops and their homes… Having [students] have this experience just shows how [Andover]  really accepts all different cultures and all different countries,” said Anya Zhong ’19, who watched the lion dance.