Year of the Goat Celebration at Wesley

Join us as Wesley celebrates Chinese New Year

Date: February 20 2015
Time 8:30 am (kindergarten to 4th grade)
          10:00 am (5th grade to 8th grade)
Location: Wesley Auditorium

Goat is ranked at the eighth position of all the animals in Chinese zodiac, Goat (Ram or Sheep) represents solidarity, harmony and calmness. People born in the year of the Goat are polite, mild mannered, shy, imaginative, determined and have good taste. On the negative side, they are sometimes pessimistic, unrealistic, short-sighted and slow in behavior.
Year of Birth: 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015

Chinese Traditions for the New Year:
New year celebrations can last two or three days including the Chinese New Year’s Eve. It is traditional for families to give their homes a thorough cleaning in hopes to sweep away ill-fortune and welcome in- coming good luck in the new year.

Red is a celebratory color and homes are decorated with red paper-cut outs and Chinese couplets (poems) expressing happiness, wealth, longevity, and family.

“FU”, character for Luck. In Chinese, saying Fu dao le means “luck or fortune has arrived”. But the word “dao” can also imply to fall down or turn upside-down. So, literally turning the character 福, fu, upside-down is a play on words implying fortune has arrived.

Family is central and not only do people travel home to be with family for the new year, it is also a time to remember ancestors. Children are celebrated and given Red Envelopes with cash as gifts.

Customary Food is prepared and served on the eve of the new year. Fish are served whole as cut meat could sever the family’s good fortune. Dumplings, which look like the old gold nuggets used as currency, are served to bring wealth and prosperity. Long noodles are for long life, meatballs are for reunion and togetherness, and tangerines and oranges are frequently displayed in homes and stores. Tangerines are symbolic of good luck, and oranges are symbolic of wealth.

Fireworks and the traditional Lion and Dragon dances are important parts of the celebration. The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Year celebrations where paper lanterns are lit and hung everywhere.