Did you know that in different places around the world people celebrate different holidays important to their culture? Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving or 4th July or Christmas. For Chinese people the biggest holiday of the year is the Lunar New Year which is not January 1st as we celebrate here in the U.S.A. This year, the Lunar New Year begins on January 22nd and marks the beginning of the ‘Year of the Rabbit'. Chinese people all over the world will celebrate with parades, fireworks, giving of gifts and special foods. The HDES Kindergartners have honored Chinese New Year with their Panda paintings made during art classes. Pandas are a symbol of China and the color red symbolizes good luck. The calligraphy reads ‘Giant Bear Cat’ which is how Pandas are known in China. Creating these paintings involved a review of ‘simple shape drawing’, printing/stamping and most importantly a lively discussion on world cultures and diversity inspired by the topic of holidays.
The grand finale of this cultural exploration is our Lunar New Year Parade when all Kindergarten classes parade through the school hallways waving their flags, colored scarves and making lots of noise with a variety of musical instruments - and a grand time is had by all!
