Chinese New Year! TRADITIONAL THINGS AND SUCH

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)  Most important holiday (Like Christmas)  Lasts for almost half a month  Date changes with the Lunar Calendar  Celebration of family reunion and spring  Clean the home and prepare food  Fish, rice, and dumplings  Decorate with paper cuttings (Remember this!)  Taboos: using words associated with death or sickness

Lion Dance (Wushi)  Purpose: Festivals and special occasions  Two types of lions:  Northern China  Southern China (look more fierce)  Two dancers cooperate to act as a big lion  Movements express different emotions such as joy, sadness, anger, affection or suspicion etc.  Believed to drive evil beasts and spirits away  LET’S SEE IT! LET’S SEE IT!

Bamboo Pole Dance (Tiao Zhugan)  Dance, jump, hop to music  Must avoid the shifting bamboo poles  If struck by the bamboo, you’re out  Last person to be struck wins  LET’S SEE IT! LET’S SEE IT!

Dragon Boat Racing  Gets name from decorative head and tail  Boat is around 66 feet long and 3.3 feet wide.  Work in teams together  Row and keep stroke to drumbeats  Led by the steersman  LETS SEE IT! LETS SEE IT!

Okay it’s time for a game…. Go!  I should probably hand out the game board now  Oh and the directions…  How to play Go! How to play Go!

Chinese Ball  People stand around in a circle with a ball as appropriate for the age group (such as a basketball).  The ball is thrown quickly around and across the circle. When a person catches the ball, the people on either side must raise one arm - the arm nearest the person with the ball - and hold it in the air until the ball is passed on to another person.  If a person fails to catch the ball, or fails to raise the correct arm when their neighbor catches the ball, or is too slow to pass the ball along, they drop out. When there are only 5 people left in the circle, they are all declared winners, and the game starts again.