By Nichole Schleihauf
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Credit: Victoria Fischer
On Feb. 15, the day of the Lantern Festival in China, the Chinese Student Scholar Association, the International Student Organization and the Multicultural Center teamed up to host a Lunar New Year Festival. The event included traditional Chinese games, a calligraphy table, bubble tea, cultural trivia Kahoot and a screening of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
The most popular attraction by far was the bubble tea. Multiple flavors of tea including chai, matcha and passionfruit were provided, with one’s choice of milk and sweetness.
Bubble tea, or boba, has risen in popularity over the past few years. The drink is made up of tea, chewy tapioca ‘bubbles’, and occasionally different kinds of milk. Although bubble tea originated in Taiwan, it can be found in several cafés around the world.
One of the games played was called ‘Gourd, Crab, Shrimp, Fish,” which is usually played during New Year festivities. In this game, players bet on which face the dice will land on and then three dice are rolled; however many match the player’s bet is the multiple of how much money they win. On the faces of the dice were a fish, a prawn, a crab, a rooster, a calabash gourd and a stag, not the usual one through six.
Chinese calligraphy was also a featured activity. A skilled calligrapher used authentic rice paper and a xuan brush to effectively create an illustrative text. Many attendees were curious to see how their name looked written out, but the artist was able to make art out of any given word.
To wind down, the event closed with a new Marvel movie, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”. The film was praised immensely upon its debut because it was the first superhero film to star an Asian lead.
Upcoming multicultural events include the Ujima Conference, hosted primarily by the Multicultural Center, which will include many co-sponsored events as well. This is a celebration of Black culture that will involve discussion, appreciation and education on the impact of Black culture around the world.