Although the holiday season is over for most people, the festive spirit was revived mid-February as people gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

On Feb. 11, teachers, parents and students of Clayton High School and Wydown Middle School, totaling over 60 guests, attended the first annual Lunar New Year Celebration in the CHS commons. The celebration included traditional performances followed by a potluck dinner consisting of a surplus of Chinese food.

“This was an opportunity to celebrate cultural and language diversity at Clayton High School,” English Language Learner teacher Karen Hales-Mecham said.

The Chinese Bird of Peace, or He Ping Ge, was hung from the ceiling at the CHS first annual Lunar New Year (Meng Wang).

The evening highlights included remarkable performances by young people from CHS and the metropolitan St. Louis area — the Lion Dance, Chinese opera, a presentation on the Lunar New Year, the fan dance, the sword dance, Kung fu performance, saxophone performance of Chinese folk song, and traditional Chinese dance.

“I thought [the performances] were really cool,” junior Mimi Liu said. “The show was really informative and broadened my knowledge about my cultural heritage.”

Pinpin Yu, the Chinese language teacher at CHS, was glad that the event turned out to be a success.

“I hope this celebration would stimulate student interests in studying about China,” Yu said. “It is important to experience different cultures in the world.”

In addition to the performances of the event, the food also left guests with lasting impressions, thanks to Hunan Wok restaurant and families that brought dishes.

“The food was delicious,” freshman Julia Bui said. “It added a lot to the festive atmosphere of the celebration.”

Liu also enjoyed eating Chinese food with her friends.

“I liked the chow mein and the duck,” Liu said.

The event was organized by Hales-Mecham and Yu. Students in Yu’s Chinese language class were also involved.

“We started planning for the celebration a month ago,” Yu said. “The students explored on the Internet about Lunar New Year, wrote brush writing as red couplets for decoration, and helped design the invitation program.”

For the event, students in the Chinese language class decorated the commons with Chinese paintings and red lanterns. There were many drawings of tigers because next year will be the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese Cultural Association also helped to advertise the event in the school.

“We plan to make this a yearly event at CHS,” Hales-Mecham said.