Rivers Celebrates Year of the Dragon with Community and Lion Dance

Lunar New Year, which marks the beginning of the new year based on the lunar calendar, fell this year on February 10. Earlier in February, Rivers marked the occasion at an all-school assembly led by the leaders of AAPI Affinity, marking the Year of the Dragon and the origins and festivities of Lunar New Year, which is celebrated by approximately one-fifth of the world’s population. 

Student members of the AAPI Affinity Group took turns speaking at the podium. They noted that the Lunar New Year is one of the most important festivals across Asia, a time for feasting and honoring ancestors. Some tie its origins to the Chinese legend of Nian, a fierce beast who feared the color red. Thus red became associated with the celebration of the holiday. It’s a time, they said, to focus on bringing luck and prosperity in the coming year. 

The assembly featured musical performances by Chelsea Yan ’25, who played a piece on the flute, called “Memory,” composed by modern classical composer Chen Yi, and Adalia Wen ’25, performing an original piece for the guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument, with a small ensemble. 

The celebrations continued Wednesday evening with a family celebration welcoming the new year with wishes for luck and prosperity and ushering in the Year of the Dragon. Upon arrival, guests were invited to drop by stations where members of AAPI Affinity and students from Mandarin language classes directed traditional activities. Guests tried their hands (literally) at Chinese calligraphy and origami lantern-making, and had the opportunity to write new year’s wishes. 

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Jenny Jun-lei Kravitz P’28 welcomed the crowd and acknowledged the work of the students who helped to organize the event.

Head of School Ryan S. Dahlem, who was in St. Louis representing Rivers at the NAIS Annual Conference, greeted the crowd in a pre-recorded message, saying, “The AAPI community at Rivers holds a great diversity of lived experiences and perspectives with East, South, and Southeast Asian American communities, as well as Pacific islanders and Desi Americans, all with unique customs and traditions around the beginning of a new year. Here at Rivers, we embrace Lunar New Year as an opportunity for all of our community members to gather together, share with each other, and learn from each other—recognizing that any opportunity for food and fellowship (and even some dancing) strengthens our connections to one another.”

Rivers' AAPI leaders also spoke, mentioning—among other things—the visitors from the Nobles and BB&N AAPI affinity groups. Welcoming the guests, the students said, “We are excited to host this dinner together to celebrate our shared culture.”

Another tradition of the Lunar New Year is the presentation of red envelopes, usually containing “lucky” money. Five lucky guests found an envelope hidden under their chairs. 

After enjoying a dinner of Chinese-style dishes, it was time for the dance portion of the evening. Leading everyone in dance were Dylan Herlihy ’25, Caleb Lys ’24, Jason Decker ’25, and Alex Ho ’27, who took to the stage in Kraft and gathered up a group of brave volunteers to demonstrate a Chinese pop culture dance, which the whole room tried out together, getting the audience warmed up for the feature performance of Gund Kwok.

Then it was time for the much-anticipated guest performance by Gund Kwok. Before both the dragon dance and the lion dance, Gund Kwok’s founder and leader, Sifu Tan, talked to the audience and shared some background on the stories behind the traditional dances, as well as the history of their ensemble. 

Gund Kwok means “heroine” in Cantonese, tying into the message of female empowerment. Traditionally, women were not allowed to perform lion and dragon dances, making the founding of this all-female troupe, now 26 years old, all the more significant. 

Tan introduced the story of the dragon dance. The Year of the Dragon is significant, she said, as many believe they will achieve their goals with the help of the dragon, which is why dragon dances are prominent in many Lunar New Year celebrations. Dancers introduced the dragons, controlled each by a single performer, with flowing motions while the story was being told. 

Tan then told the story of the lion, fabled to have driven out the Nian bad spirit from a city long ago. Each year the lion dance is performed at the new year to keep the bad spirit away. “Ask what you would like to get rid of in your life,” Tan asked the audience, “and the lion will drive it away.” Like before with the dragon, the lion (expertly controlled by members of the troupe) acted out the story, before performing a traditional dance, to the sound of drums. 

At each new year, it is tradition for the lion to “eat” symbolic objects—mandarin oranges, symbols of gold and prosperity, and heads of iceberg lettuce, which are green, like money, which were then thrown into the crowd to spread luck and prosperity to everyone in attendance.

“Catch them with your heart and mind and you will have success,” encouraged Tan.

After the thrilling performance, guests had the chance to meet the performers, try on the lion head, and take a turn with the dragons from the dragon dance. 

Many thanks to the organizers and everyone who made the event such a success, and happy Year of the Dragon to all!