To celebrate the Chinese New Year, students from the Eastside Catholic Mandarin program will take part in a lunchtime performance on Feb. 15 for the benefit of the EC students and EC community.

The students have constructed a life-size dragon and two life-size lions to perform the Dragon and Lion Dance during all lunch periods Feb. 15.

According to Mandarin teacher Monica Lo, a percussion group will accompany the dancers “to scare the bad fortune away and bring in luck and wealth for this year.”

Eastside Catholic students have also spent time decorating the school with a 15-day Chinese New Year calendar, character cut-outs, calligraphy paintings and Chinese “chunlian” and “duilian” (calligraphy character writing) as part of the Year of the Snake celebration.

Worldwide the Chinese New Year celebrations began Feb. 10 and will continue for two weeks concluding with the Lantern Festival to officially end the Chinese New Year celebrations. The EC students will celebrate the Lantern Festival the last week of February after returning from mid-winter break.

The Eastside Catholic Mandarin Language program is comprised of both middle and high school students.  In this program, students develop cultural knowledge, sensitivity and appreciation for other communities and their traditions. Students expand their linguistic knowledge through further study of language and the culture.

This is the first year that Mandarin has been taught at Eastside Catholic. At present, 44 Eastside Catholic students participate in the Mandarin program.