On Tuesday 1st February, Rosecliffe Spencer celebrated Chinese New Year (CNY) for the first time!
Having missed last year’s celebration due to lockdown- we knew that this year’s celebration would have to be special! We’ve also had lots of families join us from overseas and what a way to welcome to the Rosecliffe Family.
The day started with a Chinese culture and New Year workshop led by three of our parents. The children learnt so much about Chinese culture and how CNY is celebrated. During the interactive workshop some children were also handed out red envelopes. This is a tradition, red envelopes containing money are handed out to children; on this occasion they received a sticker wishing them a happy New Year!
Throughout the day the children participated in a range of workshops.
Dumpling making
Dumplings are one customary food that’s eaten for the New Year. One reason is that they resemble the old gold money used in China. Thus, dumplings symbolise the hope for prosperity in the coming year. Usually the dumplings are filled with meat however we filled ours with carrots and courgettes! ‘Mine were delicious’- Sasha.
Lantern Making
According to legend, light was instrumental in saving a village from Nian, a monster which had terrorised the village. Making lanterns is also thought to bring good luck.
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is the art of drawing characters and artistic writing. Mrs Tarttelin taught us how to write ‘good luck’ and ‘happy New Year’ using special calligraphy brushes. We learnt that characters need to be written very carefully! ‘This was really good fun
