Reflections On The Lunar New Year
By Samantha Wang, IV Form, Helen Huang, V Form, Ryan Yang VI Form, and Thomas Li, III Form
Reflections On The Lunar New Year
Samantha Wang from Nanchang, China
The Lunar New Year, celebrated as the most important festival in many Asian communities all over the world, is coordinated by the cycles of the moon. It is at the beginning of a year, and the date varies every year.
As the most significant holiday in China, the Lunar New Year is traditionally the time for family reunion and to honor ancestors. In my hometown, people follow a series of traditions to celebrate this meaningful festival: first, we clean our homes and put up red decorations, a symbol of good luck in the Chinese culture. This tradition is based on the belief that cleaning the house at this time of year will “sweep away” accumulated bad luck from the past year. Cleaning also makes the house ready to let the good luck enter again. People celebrate in other ways, such as dressing in new clothes, visiting relatives, going to temples and praying to the Buddha, setting off firecrackers, giving out red envelopes, and honoring ancestors. (more…)
La Fille du Régiment and Experiencing an Opera
By Kendall Sommers, III Form
La Fille du Régiment and Experiencing an Opera
Gaetano Donizett wrote La Fille du Régiment, and it premiered at “Opera Comique” opera house in Paris in 1840. The two-act show first premiered at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York in 1902. It was the composer’s first show in French and became a huge success following its release. On February 11th, 2019, St. Markers attended La Fille du Régiment for the annual opera trip. The show follows a young woman, Marie, who grew up in the French army after being taken in by Sargent Sulpice. Leading with a background of her adoption and the climate in which she grew up in, one surrounded by men, viewers can understand her mannerisms and apparent personality. Opera-goers are introduced quickly to Marie’s love interest, Tonio, who is an Austrian that meets Marie by saving her life. The regiment is opposed to their courtship because he is an Austrian and an enemy to them, but Marie resists this fact. Traveling through the regiment’s campsite, a wealthy woman, the Marquise of Berkenfield, reveals that she is Marie’s aunt. She whisks Marie off to her Chateau to force manners onto her and guide her into an arranged marriage in order to salvage her family’s generational wealth. She demands that Marie leaves her lover and family, the regiment, behind. (more…)
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