A flowing red dragon flowed through Evelyn Dickson Elementary on Chinese New Year’s Eve last week.
Touring the school in a dragon dance on Jan. 27, the 23-student Grade 2 and 3 class of teacher Ashley Kennedy wished all students and staff good luck to celebrate Chinese New Year, which follows the lunar calendar.
Paper wish lanterns were also sent off at the school’s top field to mark the occasion.
“Each month we have a new theme and the last Friday we do a celebration day,” Kennedy said. “Our theme for this month was learning about Chinese New Year.”
Students were taught how to say “Happy New Year” in Mandarin, a Chinese dialect, and wrote in calligraphy the Chinese character 福 — which means fortune or good luck and is pronounced “fu” — on red posters, displaying them upside down to signify the pouring of good luck on passersby.
They also learned the story behind the celebratory customs.
“A monster named Nian, which means year as well, came to scare the villagers, who used the colour red and fireworks to scare it away,” Kennedy explained.
The theme was picked for its timing, and the class learned about different cultures as well in December, talking about Christmas around the world.