‘A Taste of Home’: Harvard Students Celebrate Lunar New Year on Campus

More than 200 Harvard students and affiliates gathered in the Kirkland House dining hall on Sunday night to welcome the Year of the Wood Snake.

Student affinity groups and upperclassmen houses hosted events across campus for Lunar New Year, which fell on Jan. 29 this year — just two days after the spring semester began at the College.

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations also co-hosted a Lunar New Year event on Friday with the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, featuring food and activities. The Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association will host their annual banquet in the Quincy House dining hall on Saturday, featuring performances by student groups.

The Kirkland House event was co-hosted by AAA, the Harvard Vietnamese Association, the Harvard Taiwanese Cultural Society, and the Harvard Korean Association. Attendees participated in crafts such as “paint a snake” and calligraphy, received red envelopes, and enjoyed a variety of dishes — including mandu, egg tarts, and pandan waffles.

Cerena Wu ’25, who organized the event, said she wanted to make it “food-focused” to emulate the Lunar New Year meals she shared with her family, who own a Chinese restaurant, back home.

“Lunar New Year in my house we always do a big meal, and we all contribute our own dishes,” she said. “I really wanted to bring that vibe to our Lunar New Year event.”

“Especially growing up in a family-run business, it’s really influenced my belief in expressing affection through food,” Wu added.

HKA co-President Caleb W. Yee ’25, who said it was his third year tabling for HKA at the annual celebration, described it as “always a highlight of the year.”

“It always makes me so happy when I’m carrying the food in and there’s a really long line of happy people waiting to eat,” he said.

For HVA co-President Kerry M. Nguyen ’26, the event was also a celebration of Tết, which he described as a way to “make sure that we have a good start to the new year with good luck and good fortune.”

Tiffany V. Tran ’28, who attended the Sunday event, said the campus celebrations were an opportunity for “recognizing diversity.”

“Harvard’s as diverse as you can get it to be, and I think just having events like these, I think it would make anyone who celebrates this event feel really happy on the inside, knowing that their culture is being recognized,” Tran added.

While Lunar New Year is primarily celebrated by East Asian countries, attendees of various backgrounds also participated in Sunday’s festivities.

Attendee Raquel P. Reis ’25 said she was “so grateful” that the event was open to everyone.

“That’s one of the beautiful parts about Harvard — it’s doing that cultural exchange with all the different people from across the world,” Reis said.

Attendee Luna Y. Yin ’28 said it was “really good to get a taste of home” at the celebration.

“I think this is the first time I’ve spent Lunar New Year away from my family, so it’s really nice to have a space to come and celebrate it,” Yin said. “I thought it’d be something that I’d be losing out on in college.”

Wu said that she wanted to bring the feeling of home to campus for students who were away during the holidays.

“I really wanted to commit to ensuring that our event was inclusive and respectful regardless of one’s familiarity with the culture,” she said.

“The biggest thing is being with family and friends, and I really wanted to bring that feeling here so that everyone on campus can celebrate,” Wu added.

—Staff writer Alexander W. Anoma can be reached at alexander.anoma@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Chantel A. De Jesus can be reached at chantel.dejesus@thecrimson.com