Leaping into Lunar New Year with CASA

In celebration of Lunar New Year, the Chinese American Student Association held an event this past Saturday in the RPI Playhouse. Red lanterns adorned the room, and lights lit up the stage in preparation for the festivities. After all the students settled down into their seats, the lights dimmed and hosts Lehan Nguyen ’24G and Jasmine King ’24 introduced the opening act. Known as a line dance, two performers wore a dragon costume and paraded throughout the audience. During the performance, members of the audience were encouraged to reach out and touch the dragon, which symbolizes good luck in the new year. In addition, the dragon randomly tossed cabbage leaves in front of various onlookers, and anyone who received cabbage gained extra good luck.

King then introduced several dance groups, the first of which featured a trio of fan-wielding performers, who gracefully twirled to “ 青花瓷” ("The Blue and White Porcelain"). The performance then jumped straight into a combination of energetic duets, trios, and groups who danced to a variety of songs. One dance in particular featured white fans, which snapped open and closed several times throughout the performance. The group contrasted them with black clothing, allowing the audience to focus on the well-crafted movements of their fans.

With the performances ending, the hosts invited all the attendees to eat dinner. There was a wide array of different options including pork dumplings, pad thai, white rice, chicken, and milk tea.

As the night went on, audience members were invited to play several games. First, contestants from the audience were invited onstage to have their fortunes read. Little did anyone know, all the fortune cards had the same reading, causing laughter to ripple among the attendees. In a wild moment of improvisation, CASA created their own fortunes, which the audience enjoyed much more than the fortune cards.

A chair was then set onstage and the hosts told riddles. After this, contestants rushed on stage answering questions to win raffle tickets. Following a few heated rounds, the next activity, a chopstick competition, started. Players had to transfer as much Raisin Bran as possible into a plastic cup before the time ran out. One participant filled their entire cup in the allotted time, winning a raffle ticket.

The mood intensified with the start of the spicy ramen challenge. Five brave souls volunteered to eat a bowl of the spiciest ramen the CASA could make. As soon as the challenge began, contestants began devouring the bowls. One challenger stood above the others, finishing his entire bowl before anyone else was even halfway through. After finishing, many of the contestants ran to grab water, regretting their decision to take on the challenge.

The introduction of a clementine-stacking contest brought more luck to the celebration. Historically, clementines are known to bring forth good luck, which was then granted to those who participated. Within the 30-second time limit, participants carefully built towers of brightly-colored clementines. Architecture majors rose to the challenge, dominating the competition. Many towers toppled, but others remained standing, with towers rising up to 4 clementines tall.

The last activity involved a highly spirited and competitive game of musical chairs. All those who participated received raffle tickets. The raffle winners were announced and given prizes, signaling the end to a festive night, but the beginning to a new year.