Every year boys across the school celebrate the Lunar New Year in a variety of ways, and this year was no different as they came together to welcome in the Year of the Rabbit.
Chinese Society
Celebrations kicked off in traditional style during Chinese Society, where boys enjoyed trying typical Chinese New Year activities.
This included practising Chinese calligraphy, which is a fun and festive art usually undertaken at this time and helps form part of the New Year decorations. โHappinessโ or โSpring comesโ is written by brush on red paper which is then stuck on walls and doors.
Boys enjoyed tasting a range of Chinese New Year food such as spring rolls, rice cake, dumplings and big white rabbit sweets. They also feasted on Chinese New Year cakes: sweet cakes in the shape of fish, and radish savoury cakes. The fish cakes included both the head and tail of the fish as Chinese people believe that itโs important that the whole fish is eaten, as the word โfishโ in Chinese means โsurplusโ and, therefore, they must eat a โsurplusโ at the end of the year. The theory is that if they manage to have something left over at the year end, then more can be made in the new year. ย
The ancient tradition of giving and receiving red envelopes filled with money was also enjoyed (boys filled theirs with sweets). The colour red symbolises good luck and good fortune for the year ahead โ this is why red decorations are used during many important cultural festivals and significant events.
Assembly
Chinese Society was immediately followed by a boy-led assembly, to both celebrate and educate boys about the Chinese New Year.
Remove Former Fraser Morgan, who has been studying Mandarin since Y3, was first up and delivered a talk about how the Lunar New Year is typically celebrated in China. Better known as the Spring Festival in China, it is a time when families get together to feast on delicious foods, enjoy traditional music and visit temples to light the first incense of the New Year. ย
Fraser said afterwards, โDelivering the assembly was a great honour, if not a little terrifying! I found it a really educational and rewarding experience to be speaking in front of so many people, and it was a real lesson in public speaking.”
This was followed by Remove Former Jibron Baloch, who read out the poem New Yearโs Day, written by Wang Anshi, in both Mandarin and English.
Remove Former Bruce Lin who played the guzheng.
Next up was Remove Former Bruce Lin, who gave a mesmerising performance on the guzheng, a popular Chinese plucked string instrument that dates back over 2,500 years!
The boys also heard from recent Old Bedfordian Nikolai Sorokin (15-22), who was an avid member of the Chinese Society throughout his time at school and winner of the John Hext Prize for Mandarin in 2019, and who gave New Year wishes to boys and staff.
The assembly ended with Y6 Prep School boy Oscar MacCartie, who sang the popular Chinese New Year song Gong Xi Gong Xi in Mandarin.
Dr Aurora Chen, Chinese Co-ordinator, explained, โOwing to China’s rocketing economy, Chinese New Year has become a global celebration.ย Understanding diversity is an important part of our school’s curriculum and here in Bedford School we have a significant British-Chinese population including those Chinese nationals in our boarding houses.ย Celebrating Chinese New Year is a great opportunity to gain an insight into a community that is part of British culture; our pupils find out which animal the new year represents and why they should learn festivities and the culture they draw on.โ
