Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. Almost all Chinese celebrate this important event all around the world. It occurs on the first day of the new lunar year. Family members (immediate and often times, extended) get together on New Year’s Eve for a holiday feast. The feast includes a variety of dishes that have underlying meanings of good fortune, luck or prosperity. An example of such a dish is dumplings. Their shapes resemble gold nuggets that Chinese like to fashion into. It is said that eating dumplings will help with your financial fortune in the coming year.
In Middle School Mandarin classes, students learned about the above traditions associated with the holiday. We also made dumplings from scratch! The students had a great time practicing forming dumplings and pinching the dough to create the traditional, scalloped edges.
