23 February 2023
According to the Chinese traditional calendar, the celebration of beginning of Spring every year is the most significant festival in the Chinese community throughout the world. The Year of the Rabbit began on 22 January 2023 and marked the beginning of a 15-day celebration, which includes catching up with family, preparing special meals and giving the gift of money in bright red envelops. In weeks 1 and 2, the Junior School boys were making, cooking, and eating jiaozi and tangyuan in the Chinese classroom as the start of our celebration of the new year. The amazing smell of the cooking came out from the Chinese classroom and filled up the whole Bickersteth building. The big smile on every boy’s face made all the effort from the parent volunteers who gave up their time to make this happen for us all worthwhile.
In the function area, a Chinese garden scene 3D screen was set up for the boys to take their own Chinese New Year photos with many beautiful culture props in weeks 1 and 2. It was lovely to see that so many families came to the photo screen before and after school to have their new year photos taken.
At the Assembly on Friday last week, there were two Chinese New Year celebration items performed by some Junior School boys. The first item was the song called “qing hua ci” means blue and white porcelain performed by five Years 5 and 6 boys in Chinese and English both. This song was created by the most popular Chinese pop singer and musician Jay Chou and translated into English by a New Zealand singer. The Junior School audience enjoyed the beauty of the melody, lyrics, and the extraordinary art. The second item was the song called “Moonlight in the city” performed by the Mother Tongue boys in our Junior School to show their love to the family members in China whom they have not seen for years. The audience was touch deeply by the melody of the song and the old photos of the Mother Tongue boys with their families back in China.
The year 2023 is the year that the rabbit matches up with the water element, which is associated with the color black in the Chinese system. Therefore, it is the year of the black rabbit. Black Rabbit brings peace, harmony, and prosperity to the new year. We look forward to the year ahead! Happy New Year to everyone!
Mrs Shelby Baker
Chinese Language Teacher