Lunar New Year celebration attracts many cultures
by Annie Albin
The Lunar New Year celebration in Lincoln has grown into a a big cultural event that brings together a variety of groups.
Although it’s been happening in Lincoln ever since the Asian Cultural and Community Center was founded in the 1990s, the celebration has grown so large that this year it was moved to the Lancaster County Event Center. More than 700 attended the Feb. 25, 2018, celebration, said Sheila Dorsey Vinton, the center’s executive director.
The event celebrates the Lunar New Year, a Chinese holiday held in honor of the new year and a break from farming. Each year it brings attendees and performers from Lincoln’s Japanese, Vietnamese, Karen and Chinese communities.
“It’s for … people to share their heritage and enjoy their heritage, and for people who are more recently arrived to enjoy and share their heritage too,” Vinton said.
The event began with a take on the traditional Vietnamese lion dance. The dancers wove through the crowd in their giant puppet-like costumes, accepting red envelopes with money inside. By giving the lions the envelopes, the participants were promised good luck in the new year.
The group was formed at the Immaculate Heart of Mary church, a Catholic parish that offers mass in Vietnamese, said team leader and University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Eric Cao. The group is called DNMV (Doan Maria Nu Vuong), which is the name of the church youth group to which the lion dance members belong.
Performing the lion dance allows for students like Cao to connect with their heritage and to keep it alive for the older generations at their church and in their family. Cao said that he takes part in the lion dance to preserve Vietnamese culture, but also to have fun.
“A lot of the first-generation Vietnamese are there and they’re the older people; they run the parish.” Cao said, “And as the kids, our job is to do the lion dance, participate in the culture. So that’s our job — chipping in.”
When attendees weren’t watching the dances, listening to music or eating food, they could also visit with outreach groups. Tables on each side of the event hall provided resources to community services, like the University of Nebraska College of Dentistry, Lincoln City Libraries and Family Health Services, Inc.
Along with the tables offering community resources, there were also cultural centers providing information for new members. One of the cultural centers in attendance was the Lincoln Chinese Cultural Association, which offers a Lincoln Chinese Academy. Haichuan Wang, a member of the board of directors, said the purpose of the academy is to show and share Chinese culture, especially with their children.
“We grow up in this culture,” Wang said. “They don’t know.”
The academy offers Chinese language classes from kindergarten through 7th grade, as well as enrichment classes in martial arts, calligraphy, singing, math and more. According to their website, “The Lincoln Chinese Academy is dedicated to learning the Chinese language, cultivating self-esteem and confidence, and appreciating the Chinese culture and heritage.”
By creating this program, those who recently came to America can continue to share their culture with their children, without needing an expensive plane ticket to fly them there.
The Lunar celebration also allowed for those outside of these communities to partake in and appreciate the cultures.
UNL student Ibraheem Hamzat, who was at the event volunteering with the university’s Minority Pre-Health Association, said the event provided cultural awareness. He said that while at times Nebraska seems like it lacks diversity, the event proved otherwise.
“Your culture can be accepted,” he said, “and celebrated.”
Multicultural groups organize ‘Exploring Our Roots’ art show
by Anna Dubas
Karen Sotelo’s art expresses her love for the Latino community.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore was grateful for the recent opportunity to share that love with the public.
She was one of 13 artists who showcased their work as part of Exploring Our Roots, a weeklong campus event that focused on intersectional cultural issues and perspectives. In addition to an art showcase, the event featured film screenings and professional panels to celebrate the cultures that make up UNL’s collective story, organizers said.
*This story is the first part of a multimedia project led by CoJMC students in the Nebraska Mosaic class. To view the complete story, photos and videos, visit https://nebraskamosaic.atavist.com/painting-a-new-picture.