The Year of the Tiger, was celebrated in the fourth annual Spring Festival hosted in the Cerritos College  Student Center March 13.

The festival was Co-hosted by Cerritos College, the Chinese Culture Association of Southern California and the Cerritos Chinese School, in an effort to bring the community and the college together.

The event included traditional asian dishes, a variety of performances, activity workshops and a royal fashion show.

The colorful atmosphere of the festival  brought the asian community  and other cultures to greet the new year and celebrate the year of the dragon.

Alexander Lu, Chairman of the Chinese Culture Association of Southern California stated, “This event is a great to celebrate our culture, we want to teach our language, customs, and value of the human spirit  to the younger generations.”

“It is an amazing way to embrace our culture and share it with others,” Lu added.

Jennifer Hewitt, Principal Cerritos Chinese School said, “Our event has gotten bigger every year, it is wonderful  to see all the different cultures together, we are seeing unity among our community members.”

“The Cerritos Chinese School enriches the learning of the Chinese culture, providing  language and culture classes for preschoolers and adults.”
 
Eileen Ung, student at the Cerritos Chinese School said, “I’ve been attending Chinese school since I was in kindergarten, this was the beginning of my exposure to the Chinese culture I enjoy celebrating and sharing my culture with others.”

The performances included  traditional “Lion Dance,” Korean and Chinese Choirs, Chinese Yo-Yo performers, instrument performers such as flute and the all female group of Japanese drummers, folk dancing and a martial arts performances of Kung Fu.

Alex Chang, Cerritos Chinese Choir, said, “Singing in my language  to others was fun, it is a great way to connect with other people.”

Workshops, were set up for the children that consisted of activities such as calligraphy, Chinese brush painting, dice game, paper lanterns, and Henna tattoos.

Maria Tu, Chinese brush painting instructor, “In our culture brush painting is very typical we paint, flowers, animals, and beautiful landscapes, in this workshop I teach the basic brush painting form.”

Those who attended the festival where covered in Henna tattoosss, Syeda Iftekhar, Muslim Student Association stated, “We  are here to expose our culture to different people, and let them know what Henntattoosos are about.”

I wasn’t expecting such a big crowd but its great to see the effort of bringing so many cultures together.” Iftekhar added.

Richard Sun, Chinese Senior Association, was passing out New Years greeting card, he stated, “New Years Chinese tradition we give the kids a card, it is a colorful tradition, usually they get slipped in the pillow in New Years eve.

The  Royal Fashion Show, feature 5,000 years of historical Royal Court gowns, and dresses, as well as contemporary dresses from Asian cultures including Chinese, Korean, Thai  and Vietnamese.

The models walking on the run way were familiar faces around the community those which included Dr. Linda Lacy, President of Cerritos College, Dr. Bob Hughlett, President  Board of Trustees, as well as City Council members such as Dr. Joseph Cho, Mayor of Cerritos, and Tony Lima, Mayor of Artesia.

Lacey, modeled a traditional  Yuan Dynasty Empress gown, she stated, “This is a wonderful event, it is my first time attending the event, dressed as an empress, she giggled.”

“The event is a great way to enhance and expose young children of our community to the programs we offer that enhance the  learning of their culture,” Lacey added.

 Roxanna Rendon, graphic design major said, “I was encourage to attend the event by the International Student Association members, there are a lot of activities that teach about other cultures.”