PUPUSA:What is a pupusa?A pupusa is a tortilla made of corn flour (Maseca) stuffed with various flavors of food like, Pork, chicken, shrimp, loroco flower, chesse, and beans. The pupusas is stuffed while forming the round pancake like tortilla. It is a culinary artform, and not everyone can make them.
It takes skill and practice to be able to make them. RECIPE STORY:Pupusas were first cooked and eaten by the Pipils Indian tribe which lived in the territory which is now known as El Salvador.Pupusas made in the United State are typically made with maseca (brand name of most popular commercial corn flour- masa mix) instead of fresh masa harina.Chinese New Year a celebration of family, luck and tradition | The State News
Michigan State University's Independent Voice Since 1909, East&Lansing,&MI
Monday, August 31, 2015
| Last updated:
Chinese New Year a celebration of family, luck and tradition
Feb. 19 marks the beginning of the Year of the Sheep. Despite being miles away from home, Chinese students are still finding ways to celebrate the annual festival
| Published 02/18/15 9:53pm
For Ling Ci, the strangest part of celebrating the Chinese New Year in the United States is spending the holiday away from family.The Chinese New Year, also referred to as the Spring Festival, is a celebratory event that is the longest public festival in China. It is one of the most important holidays for Chinese people around the world, similar in importance to Thanksgiving or Christmas in the Western world.This year, the festival falls on Feb. 19 and marks the beginning of the Year of the Sheep. Luckily, Chinese students like Ci, a construction management sophomore, have found a community of students at MSU who make celebrating away from home more bearable. “I just spend it with my friends,” Ci said. “I don’t think that they have the exact environment of what we do in China ... it’s just different, but it’s still really cool.”
Many people venture into the exhibit room Feb. 13, 2015, at the CSSA Chinese New Year Temple Fair held in C107 McDonel hall. The room holds many different booths with games for people to enjoy and an educational film was shown which celebrates Chinese culture. Allyson Telgenhof/The State
/ The State News
Graduate student Fu Fang hands out prizes to the audience Feb. 10, 2015, when an audience member answers a joke correctly. Fu is one of the visiting scholars from Southwest University in Chong Qing, China attending MSU's graduate program who spoke about the Chinese New Year. Emily Nagle/The State News
/ The State News
Graduate student Qin Jiaojiao helps Susan Printy, an associate professor from the department of education, apply a blindfold on Feb. 10, 2015, before starting the games at the presentation. Every member of the audience to volunteer for the games walked away with a small prize. Emily Nagle/The State News
Anticipated festivitiesIn China, the new year celebration lasts 15 days, with each day bringing a new round of festivities. Due to its basis on the lunar calendar, rather than the Earth’s orbit of the sun, the Chinese New Year generally falls sometime in February, according to&, an assistant professor in Chinese and second language studies at MSU.Families gather during the celebration to eat traditional food, play games and enjoy each other’s company. The primary focus of the new year celebration is coming together and bringing in the new year surrounded by family and friends.Li said traditions to celebrate the new year include family reunions, eating dumplings and sweet, sticky rice cakes, playing firecrackers, hanging red lanterns, putting red couplet scrolls on the doors, putting red paper cuttings on the windows and doors, children receiving lucky money in red envelopes (and) the dragon and lion dances.The Chinese also associate different animals with each new year. According to Huiqing Zheng, a third year microbiology and molecular genetics doctoral student, the Chinese zodiac features 12 animals that rotate every year. As the Year of the Horse ends, those celebrating Chinese New Year are welcoming in the Year of the Sheep.People born in the Year of the Sheep are said to be calm, gentle and thoughtful, according to Li. Other Years of the Sheep include
and 1991. Storied traditionEach celebration that takes place during Spring Festival has a special significance. Many of the customs and traditions that take place during the festival have roots in the story of its origin.In the story of the festival, according to Li, centuries ago, Chinese villagers were terrorized by a lion-like monster known as the “Nian,” the Chinese word for year. A wise man then told the villagers to scare off the Nian with firecrackers, drums and red decorations.The villagers took the advice of the old man and successfully rid the village of the Nian. Every year on the anniversary, the Chinese celebrate this victory and greet each other with the phrase “Guo Nian” which means “the passing of the beast,” and
they repeat these practices to bring good luck into the new year. The red decorations are used because in ancient tradition the Nian was said to be afraid of the color red. The fireworks set off to commemorate the new year are also used as a way to scare off bad luck & the loud noises produced by the celebration are another tactic believed to scare off the Nian.“It is a really important holiday for family reunion people to come together to celebrate and pray for good fortune in the coming new year,” said Zheng. The idea of bringing good luck and fortune while leaving evil spirits behind is a key part of the Spring Festival.Zheng said that his favorite tradition during the celebration is giving the red envelopes to children with gifts inside, usually money. “The older people would give a red envelope to the younger people,” Zheng said. “As long as you’re not married, you get them from your parents, or your grandparents will still give you a red envelope that has money or stuff like that.”Elizabeth Xie, a hospitality business junior, said her favorite part of the Spring Festival is the fireworks that are set off at midnight.Celebrating at MSUTo help ease the anxiety of spending the holiday away from home, there are plenty of on- and off-campus events and activities for the approximately 4,400 Chinese students celebrating the Chinese New Year in East Lansing.International student adviser and communications and experiential learning coordinator Xiaoyu Yin said most of the Chinese New Year celebration events on campus are led by student groups, but some MSU units or departments might be involved in organizing and planning these events as well. Additionally, the& is hosting their celebration off campus too. The events are open to all community members, Yin said. Many Chinese students claim that while it is difficult to be away from family during the holiday, the large Chinese community at MSU makes it easy to find people to celebrate with and they enjoy having an opportunity to share their culture with their non-Chinese friends who haven’t been exposed to the New Year festivities before.“Most students will arrange activities, for example a potluck dinner to make dumplings together with other friends,” Yin said. “They will also invite their domestic or other international student friends to join the celebration and introduce them to the traditions and cultures behind this festival.” While the celebration might not be as grand as it is at home, students who are spending Spring Festival here at MSU have similar plans for their celebrations, most of which include eating traditional Chinese food and spending time with their closest friends.“I like to hang out with my friends. We get together to make some Chinese food and there’s a traditional TV show on Spring Festival every year that is made by our TV programming,” said Shizi Huang, a supply chain management freshman.However, while it’s nice to have friends to ring in the New Year with, there is no substitute for spending the holidays with family.“There are so many Chinese people here like, it’s so nice, it’s good,” Xie said. “But maybe I will FaceTime or something with my family.”
Please enable JavaScript to view the
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The State News.
RELATED STORIES
| Published 4 hours ago
| Published 5 hours ago
| Published 6 hours ago
| Published 7 hours ago
| Published 7 hours ago
SN Polls You
guest said: It should also be "complement," not "compliment." ...on
Murrow's Disappointment said: You guys were always a joke and now you're East Lansing's ...on
Matt said: Even 15 years later I have fond memories of moving ...on
Anthony Brown said: Son, back in the olden days, when we walked to class ...on
Thomas Wright said: Purdue isn't raising tuition.
They are laying people ...on
Email Edition
Fresh headlines, delivered daily, to your inbox.
Print Edition
All Content & 2015, State News, Inc.
Powered by
Solutions by The State News
The State News is published by the students of Michigan State University. State News, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation.
Its current 990 tax form is available for review upon request at 435 E. Grand River Avenue during business hours.