The LSU Asian Student Union held their Lunar New Year Cultural Night Thursday, collaborating with the LSU Global Community Center to ring in the Year of the Snake with food, games and performances inspired by a multitude of Asian cultures.
ASU is a student organization that, according to its Tigerlink, is dedicated to creating a space for students “who support and promote the education, histories, cultures, and traditions of Asian Americans.”
The organization has held many events since its return, but Thursday night’s was its biggest.
Walking into the Global Community Center, there was no mistaking what was being celebrated. The hall was filled with decorations of red and gold, and above it all, hundreds of flags representing every country. The sense of joy and celebration of culture was palpable. Guests everywhere were clad in red, a color worn during Lunar New Year to ward off evil and to bring good fortune.
Marketing freshman and ASU member Madison Mai-Trang Nguyen spoke to the Reveille about the event and her experience with ASU.
“They’re just very welcoming, very friendly, and very fun to be around. Especially the board,” she said.
Mai-Trang Nguyen’s favorite game at the event was bầu cua, a Vietnamese game played during Lunar New Year. Looking at a mat with images of fish, gourd, deer, crab, chicken and shrimp, players place bets on which animal they think will win and roll dice decorated with those same images. The player that bet on whichever image the most dice show wins.
There are lots of things to celebrate during Lunar New Year, but according to Mai-Trang Nguyen, some things take priority.
“I think that family is a really big part of the Lunar New Year, and it just gives me another reason to celebrate,” she said. When asked what she was hoping for this year, she excitedly said “good fortune and lots of money.”
As the night went on, more and more students crowded in, packing the room with people talking, eating, playing games and painting fans. To honor the Year of the Snake, which symbolizes rebirth, transformation, luck and love, many attendees were decorating their fans with paintings of the reptile.
Then, at around 7 p.m., the dragon dance began.
ASU invited the Southern Lotus Lion Dance Association to perform at the celebration, beginning the dance with musicians commanding the audience’s attention with their gongs, cymbals and drums.
Two dragons appeared, one purple, the other green, complete with shiny silver coats and white trim that dazzled as they danced around the room and flapped their ears. The dancers jumped, balanced on one another and threw oranges and plush snakes out into the crowd.
Near the end of the performance, the dancers once more balanced on each other and out of the mouths of the dragons came purple scrolls reading “Happy New Year,” extending best wishes for the new year.
Before the dragons left, they danced and trotted throughout the room, greeting the audience. Attendees were giggling, waving and petting the dragons as they made their rounds.
The conclusion of the dance marked the night’s end, marking the culmination of the efforts of students, faculty and staff alike to bring Lunar New Year to LSU.
