Fireworks, parades and huge dinner reunions with family and home-cooked meals usually mark an important holiday for Asian students: the change into the new year. This year it was difficult for Ithaca College students who celebrate the Lunar New Year to find largely accessible celebrations on campus, resulting in some dissatisfaction with campus engagement.
In 2015, the college hosted the Chinese New Year Concert and in 2024, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association hosted a festival to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Lunar New Year 2025 was Jan. 29, which marked the transition to the Year of the Snake. First-year student Maia Wong said all of the on-campus club celebrations she was aware of happened after new year’s day or were only among friends.
“On the day of Lunar New Year I was sad because literally nothing was happening,” Wong said.
Lunar New Year is commonly celebrated for about two weeks, however, Wong said she usually spends the day-of with family. She said her family does a traditional 10-course meal or, if the holiday falls on a weekday, her family will celebrate over the weekend and she will set off fireworks with her friends on new year’s day.
“I celebrated at home a little bit right before I left home for the spring [semester],” Wong said. “I saw my grandparents and we got hot pot and kind of said, ‘Happy New Year,’ but it wasn’t the same.”
This year Wong Facetimed her friends from home and wore red on Jan. 29, but she said most of her friends at Ithaca did not know why she was dressing up. In Chinese culture the color red is a sign of good luck and is often worn on Lunar New Year. First-year student Melissa Hecker said it was strange being around so many people who did not know the cultural significance of the day.
“I come from a place where [Lunar New Year is] really all around me and here it’s like, no one even knows it exists,” Hecker said.
IC Mixed hosted a Lunar New Year celebration on Feb. 4, which five students attended. At the event there were Lunar New Year coloring pages, crossword puzzles and print outs about the different zodiac signs on the table.
Senior Kathleen Gang, president of IC Mixed, said she knew there were a couple more people who wanted to come but were not able to. She said that last year when they hosted a Lunar New Year celebration they had more people attend because it was not their first meeting of the semester, and this time it was.
Gang was born in the Year of the Snake, so she was excited to share with attendees what the year signifies for her, as well as various facts about Lunar New Year.
“The superstition is that you’ll have good luck your year,” Gang said. “You’re supposed to be mindful about how you are the whole year, because it’s about you.”
While the turnout was small, the activities and intimate atmosphere fostered conversations about each other’s parents and grandparent’s zodiac signs and the places everyone’s family was from. They discussed what types of Asian cuisine they were each familiar with and the places around the world that they someday hope to travel to.
Melissa Hecker said she had known of one other event on the eve of the new year, but decided to have her own celebration with her friends.
“I was thinking that [the CSSA] would organize something, but there was nothing from them and that’s why I decided to do my own,” Hecker said. “I know that the Asian American Alliance had a last-minute ramen night thing on the eve as well, but because it was really last minute and it was a really small event I decided not to go for that and I just focused on my own.”
Hecker cooked a big dinner for her friends on the eve of Lunar New Year with fried rice and tomato egg drop soup. She also made dumplings with some of her friends on another day to bring everyone together.
Wong and Hecker both emphasized the importance of the holiday to their family and how it is the biggest holiday for Chinese students, as well as students from other Asian cultures that celebrate.
“It’s probably one of my favorite holidays to celebrate because I spend it doing things that make me feel connected to my culture that I sometimes don’t feel super connected to because I’m mixed,” Wong said.
Wong said that she thinks the diversity, equity and inclusion clubs on campus do a good job of supporting the international community overall, however she wishes there had been more promotion of events and more acknowledgement from the school.
“I was just kind of maybe expecting an email or something just like, ‘oh hey, by the way it’s this cultural holiday that a lot of people celebrate,’” Wong said. “But I do understand that that’s not really the population here.”
CSSA throws an annual Mid–Autumn festival where Hecker said she had a really great time this year and that the club was welcoming to her. For new year’s day, Hecker said she enjoys celebrating with close friends in more intimate gatherings. Still, Wong expressed feelings of disappointment in not having as much involvement in the holiday as she would at home.
Wong said she is starting to realize that she needs to seek out more communities for mixed people on campus.
“I’m not used to it yet, not having a community here,” Wong said.
IC Mixed was founded in 2016 and Gang said the group gets up to 10-12 people to attend club meetings. She said that this year IC Mixed has many more social media followers than they have people who show up to their events. IC Mixed meets at 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday in the African-Latino Society Lounge in West Tower.
