New Year’s Day may have been more than two weeks ago, but the Chinese New Year is just getting started.

In Chinese culture, the lunar new year is celebrated with traditions, family gatherings and a Spring Festival Gala.

Chancellor Kent Syverud likened the holiday’s significance to “the equivalent of Christmas, Rosh Hashanah or Eid al-Fitr,” in an email to Syracuse University students and faculty. The holiday emphasizes spending time with family and is celebrated for up to two weeks, depending on the regional traditions.

The holiday festivities traditionally include setting off fireworks and having a family dinner on the eve of the new year. For those spending the holiday at Syracuse University, it can be difficult to adjust to spending it away from family.

“During my freshman year, it was difficult. Now it’s just fine,” said Chloe Lou, a junior French and economics major.

Lou would typically sit with her family and watch the Spring Festival Gala on China Central Television — China’s equivalent of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. This year, she is calling her family while streaming the televised celebration online, she said.

She will also be a hostess at SU’s Spring Festival Gala, which will be held by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association on Jan. 31.

The gala will have several shows, including pop singers and entertainers. Goldstein Auditorium will be decorated with traditional Chinese New Year decorations, including red paper with phrases for good luck, peace or health written on them.

In addition to the gala, there will also be a celebration thrown by the Hong Kong Cultural Organization in the Hall of Languages, Room 114 on Jan. 31, which will feature traditional Chinese desserts such as white radish cake.

“We bring students who aren’t able to go home together. We are able to celebrate it without feeling homesick,” said Sharon Lee, president of the Hong Kong Cultural Organization and Asian Students of America. “There’s nothing to make up for that feeling of home and being with your family. But there’s the network and the quote-unquote family that we made here. It’s nice but in a different way.”

Lee said around the Chinese holiday season, she begins to feel homesick. This will be her first Chinese new year away from her family. Although she still eats Chinese food from the dining hall, nothing can match the authenticity of having dinner at home.

Chengming Guo, a senior information technology and management major and president of CSSA, said the Chinese population on campus makes it easier to get used to celebrating the Chinese New Year without being in China. She will be making dumplings with friends as well as hosting the CSSA Gala to celebrate the holiday.

Tony Lei, a senior finance and supply chain management major, would usually set off fireworks in the countryside in celebration of the lunar new year. But he hasn’t celebrated the holiday in China in seven years.

While he is not as homesick as some of the students who will be spending their first Chinese New Year outside of China, he said it would be great to have the experience again.

Though he would like to experience the holiday again, Lei said Christmas has taken Chinese New Year’s place as the big holiday he celebrates each year. “When you’re away from home, you should embrace something that is here, not try to re-enact something from home,” Lei said. “When I go back to China, I can miss Christmas out there.”

Lei’s plans for the holiday include calling his family, but otherwise, his weekend will proceed ordinarily.

Published on January 30, 2014 at 12:57 am

Contact Danielle: dlroth@syr.edu