International

The Lunar New Year festivities

Orianna Xu writes about ways of celebrating the Lunar New Year in Korea, Vietnam, and China

ON Sunday 22nd January, the year of the Water Tiger in the lunisolar calendar made way for the year of the Water Rabbit, or the Year of the Cat in Vietnamese culture. The fourth animal of the 12 Chinese Signs, the rabbit represents peace and prosperity, while the cat represents power and aggression. This lunar year will run until 9th February 2024, the eve of the Year of the Dragon. Although Lunar New Year is commonly associated with China due to the influence of the Chinese New Year, the holiday is celebrated across East and Southeast Asia and diasporic communities worldwide. It is a chance for family gatherings, eating and upholding traditions. Festivities vary across and within cul- tures, but they usually entail eating auspicious foods at a reunion dinner, wearing traditional clothing, and exchanging greetings. In Korean culture the main dish of the Lunar New Year, called Seollae, is tteokguk, a savoury soup with sliced rice cakes. The white rice cakes symbolise a clean start to the new year, while their round shape recalls Korea’s old coin currency, signifying prosperity. Koreans also practice sebae, bowing deeply to their elders with a wish for their good fortune. Meanwhile, Vietnamese communities celebrate Tet, Vietnamese New Year, enjoying traditional cake and decorating homes with apricot and peach blossoms and kumquat trees. Tet shares many similarities with Chinese New Year, known as Chunjie or spring festival, such as cleaning homes of bad luck before the new year, watching lion or dragon dances and wearing red for good luck, and setting off fireworks to scare away bad luck.

As a Chinese American, I’m most familiar with Chinese customs. My favourite is hongbao, red envelopes with cash tucked inside, starting with the envelope that my parents would tuck under my pillow. Auspicious foods include fish, since a homonym for fish is abundance in Chinese, and oranges, for their vivid colour and round shape, which represents family togetherness, but there are regional variations. Northern regions often enjoy hot pot and dumplings, for example. Since red symbolises good fortune and prosperity, red decorations, such as red lanterns, door couplets, and paper cuttings, abound. The Chinese character for luck, fu, is inverted over or on top of doors, because the word for invert, dao, also means to arrive, inviting luck to arrive.

Lunar New Year, even if celebrated differently depending on where you go, unites families and friends over the upcoming fortunes of the next 12 months. It is a chance to enjoy traditional cuisine and participate in cultural festivities.

The tradition of Valentine’s Day

Georgie Whitehouse examines the national differences in celebrating the day of love

VALENTINE ’ S Day is fast approaching, and with it we might already be noticing more romcoms on our Netflix home page or heart shaped balloons, assorted chocolates, and cheesy cards starting to appear in shops. Yet, through our distinctly British and commodified version of Valentine’s, we may forget its origin, as well as the countless other variations of the celebration across the world.

We celebrate this day of love in the name of Saint Valentine, a priest, who in third century Rome, famously opposed emperor Claudius II. Emperor Claudius believed that the best and most obedient soldiers were those that didn’t have wives or families to care for, and

THE days may be shorter, and the weather cooler, but the winter holidays can still be the perfect time to travel. Indeed, many parts of Europe right on our doorstep can be even prettier and more enjoyable in the depths of winter, as I was lucky enough to discover on my post-New Year trip to Switzerland.

Many parts of Europe right on our doorstep can be even prettier and more enjoyable in the depths of winter

Switzerland’s renowned rail network, among the most efficient in the world, consequently made it illegal for young soldiers to marry. Saint Valentine saw this as an injustice to young men and defied Claudius’ laws by continuing to perform marriages in secret. He was later discovered and executed for his betrayal, but continues to be celebrated each year by lovers across the world.

Tet shares many similarities with Chinese New Year the best and most obedient soldiers were those that didn’t have wives or families

Whether you spend the day with your partner, friends, family or by yourself, we each aspire to fill the 14th February with love. In Britain, this typically takes the form of flower bouquets, romantic gestures, sweet treats, or fancy meals. However, Valentine’s Day manifests in many ways across the world, with different cultures celebrating each in their own unique way.

For example, in Argentina, the celebration spans an entire week. This week, taking place in July, is cutely named ‘Sweetness Week’, and Argentinians exchange kisses for sweet treats. Similarly, in South Korea love is not only celebrated on one day. South Koreans celebrate love on the 14th of every month — with days such as May’s Rose Day, June’s Kiss Day, and December’s Hug Day! In the

Winter holidays travelling

Harry Craig, Music Editor, describes his holidays in Switzerland makes it an ideal place to explore — the trains, albeit expensive, enable visitors to access the whole country. I based myself in Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva, perhaps most famous as the Olympic Capital, from which I could explore much of Frenchspeaking Switzerland. My first day took me into the depths of the Swiss countryside, for a day of chocolate, cheese and castles in the quaint medieval village of Gruyères. Although shrouded in fog, the old town was beautiful, and just a stone’s throw from the cheese and chocolate factories. This was an opportunity to sample Switzerland’s most famous exports, even if the tour of the Maison Cailler chocolate factory did leave me feeling slightly sick from all the free samples! Indeed, Swiss cuisine has to be one of the stand-out parts of my trip. The culinary highlight was definitely rösti, which is made of fried grated potato, that can also include bacon, onion, or cheese; es- sentially, a bigger, nicer hash brown!

On the second day, I headed up into the mountains, eager to see the iconic peaks of the Swiss Alps. However, as the funicular train snaked up to the ski resort of Leysin, there was one inescapable fact: the complete lack of snow. Midwinter Switzerland should be covered in metres of white powder, but even at over 1500m above sea level, there was none. A stark reminder of the growing threat climate change poses to the winter sports industry that is the lifeblood of communities across alpine Europe. In places, the weather was mild enough to be wearing just one layer, and during our visit the news broke that places in the Swiss Alps had recorded temperatures exceeding 20°C — in January.

Philippines, Valentine’s Day is not just an intimate, private celebration, but rather a communal one with hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of citizens gathering to marry at huge public events sponsored by the government. Some cultures don’t even celebrate romance, such as in Estonia, where on the 14th February, the celebration of ‘Sobrapaev’ (directly translating as ‘Friendship Day’) sees groups gather to honour friendship rather than romantic love. Whatever way you celebrate Valentine’s Day, know that you are not alone. Millions across the world will momentarily unite in the recognition of love for each other, so take this as an opportunity to express and receive love.

Midwinter Switzerland should be covered in metres of white powder — there was none

Lausanne itself basked in this warm weather, particularly on the lakeside at Ouchy. This part of town is also home to the Olympic Museum, which ranks as one of the best museums I’ve ever visited, featuring thousands of items of sports memorabilia, including Jesse Owens’ shoes and Usain Bolt’s vest. Although it was infamously expensive, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in Switzerland, particularly on its train network!

Smallest girl on neuroscience

Any mulletted & moustachioed boy is my crush

I saw him in the library with a questionable purple quarter zip on but it suited him so well. His hair had a shine to it and his eyes glistened when he walked down into the library. I purposefully sat nearby and the way he worked so hard in the library typing away made me fancy him even more. I hope one day to see him on a TP wednesday and hopefully he'll approach me- MC

Max - in philosophy seminar, usually wearing black and always has rings on, brown hair, average height, likes to talk in the seminars but I always find what he says interesting ;) - AC

See him in sports centre a lot plays tennis. Just over 6ft. Seen on his tennis bag his initials are MH - AC

M - we did an econ group project together last year. Probably not into women but your beauty really struck me - A

I always see this man at Timepiece with curtains, and sometimes in the law library walking around. I am pretty sure he has a twin look-alike. Help me find him! - IL

SS - the most beautiful girl I've ever come across. Not sure if you notice me but you make my heart flutter.

- Naman Kalyan

Skin fade, blue eyes, first name begins with an A and end in an X second name begins with M end in L third year boy who does economics

- A