The aroma of Thai chicken and curry beef stew rose from the tables of the Scheidler Community Center Saturday as students and local residents gathered to commemorate the Chinese New Year with a celebration dinner.
The "Year of the Monkey" officially began Thursday.
Saturday's celebration dinner, sponsored by the Asian American Student Association, allowed the Ball State and Muncie communities to come together to raise awareness about the Chinese tradition and to promote cultural diversity, AASA president Michael Nu Zhang.
"In today's world, there is so much suffering derived from the misunderstanding and intolerances of other people's cultures and religious beliefs," Zhang said. "We need more understanding of each other's differences."
The Chinese New Year dinner party provided several traditional foods including dumplings and "lian gao," meaning "year cake." Both items are traditional new year dishes in the Chinese culture, Zhang said.
The year cake symbolizes growth and luck at the dawn of every new year, he said.
As students and local residents partook of more than 25 other dishes that were available, they watched several Chinese music videos. They also watched the Chinese film "The Irresistible Piggies," in which characters spoke in the Chinese Mandarin dialect.
Gordon Swafford, president of Ball State's Chinese Club, said he enjoyed the dinner party Saturday and was glad to see some cultural diversity at the event.
"It's always good to learn something outside of your own circle," Swafford said. "It's important to recognize and accept other people's (cultural) differences."
Sophomore Douglas Garrett said he also enjoyed collaborating with various ethnic groups to celebrate the Chinese New year.
Raising awareness about Chinese culture helped to promote multicultural appreciation in the Ball State and Muncie communities, he said.
"This event was a great way of keeping with the Chinese tradition in America," Garrett said.
According to the China Home Page located at www.educ.uvic.ca, every Chinese New Year begins with the New moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15-day celebration consists of Chinese traditions that honor religion, ancestry, and the reunion of family and friends.
The Chinese New Year, also celebrated in the Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese cultures, falls on a different day each year because of the extra months inserted into the lunar calendar every seven years, the site said. The 2003 Chinese New Year, the "Year of the Ram," fell on Feb. 1.
Zhang said because many people are not familiar with cultural traditions outside of their own, he was glad Saturday's dinner party allowed diverse groups of people to learn about and celebrate the Chinese New Year.
He especially appreciates the role Ball State plays every year in promoting multiculturalism both on campus and in the Muncie community, he said.
"I think individuals should (continue) to unite to celebrate cultural events," Zhang said. "And I'm very grateful to be on a campus that stresses diversity and the awareness of multicultural perspectives."
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