Lunar New Year always filled me with excitement. I would button up a brand-new qipao, a traditional Chinese dress, bought from Chinatown the weekend prior and run around the house with my cousins until dinner time where I would snack on dumplings and fortune cookies. At the end of the night, we would receive the most anticipated gift: a red envelope filled with money from my grandparents.
Like many other kids of East Asian cultural backgrounds, Lunar New Year is an important holiday to myself and my family. Despite Asians having a massive population in the school district, I’ve noticed that there is no formal celebration or recognition of Lunar New Year and other major Asian holidays in PAUSD, beyond student planned events. Lunar New Year is a California state recognized holiday, yet employees do get time off to celebrate. PAUSD should be giving time off to students and staff to celebrate the holiday with their families, similar to how we are given time off to celebrate winter religious holidays and new year’s day.
As a kid, home wasn’t the only place where I celebrated Lunar New Year. When I attended Ohlone Elementary School, I was in the Mandarin Immersion Program. The Mandarin Immersion cohorts learn the typical elementary school curriculum, but in two languages with a 70 Mandarin to 30 English language split.
The Mandarin Immersion Program has an emphasis on celebrating and learning about Chinese culture and holidays. We would make dumplings, black sesame paste filled rice balls and moon cakes and celebrate in traditional Chinese clothing. After six years in the program, I finished elementary school with a special understanding of Chinese language and culture, which taught me the importance of celebrating and understanding my own Taiwanese heritage.
Even beyond the Mandarin Immersion Program, it had been a tradition that at Ohlone the Lunar New Year was celebrated by the whole school. On the first day of Lunar New Year, all the students and staff would gather on the blacktop for the dragon parade. In the parade, student council members would file under a fabric dragon covered in glitter glue and sequins, holding poles above their heads and following the pearl baton of the student council president. During lunchtime, students would participate in calligraphy set up for noon art, and there was even one instance where the school brought in lion dancers and a student performing group from Beijing.
Lunar New Year is most passionately celebrated across Asia. In these East and Southeast Asian cultures, it is the biggest holiday of the year. And it is about togetherness — we hold large family dinners and celebrations over the course of two weeks, celebrating by spending time with family and preparing for an auspicious new year.
The exact dates of the holiday change each year, because it is based on the lunar calendar, though it generally falls at the end of January to mid February. Lunar New Year is not typically covered by winter break, but as the largest holiday in many Asian cultures, many people take the first day of Lunar New Year off to partake in traditional rituals and celebratory practices.
Americans have also begun recognizing the holiday. On Sept. 9, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation making Lunar New Year a statewide public school holiday. This past Lunar New Year, district staff and students enjoyed time spent with family and friends, visiting burial sites, cleaning homes and other time-consuming activities that the holiday traditionally holds.
Despite the Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander comprising 40% of the population in the district, I’ve observed that there is no formal school wide recognition of major Asian holidays like Lunar New Year. It was a big shift for me, to go from formally celebrating Lunar New Year at school with my teachers and peers, to celebrating only with my family.
On Feb. 10, 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom officially declared Lunar New Year a state holiday. However, employees do not get paid time off, and they must take a personal leave to celebrate the holiday.
I can understand why the district may not want to give extra time off for the Lunar New Year, but I encourage people to consider the number of people making it a holiday would positively affect; many students would be able to invest more time in their own cultures and traditions. Many more would be able to have more time to reflect and take a breather from academic stress.
Because our district has such a large Asian American population, the majority of whom celebrate Lunar New Year, PAUSD should recognize it district-wide and give students the first day of Lunar New Year off. Holidays should be celebrated, and filled with excitement, and not stress of missing school to spend time with family and friends. If PAUSD gave time off to students and staff, many students across a broad range of cultures would greatly benefit from being able to celebrate the most prominent holidays to themselves, their families and their culture.