Just ahead of the Lunar New Year, Texas Woman’s University held its first Snow Moon Festival on Feb. 6.
The event, hosted by the Residence Hall Association, was “an Asian cultural celebration” featuring live performances, food, activities and a student-run marketplace. Christiane Segovia, one of the student event planners who came up with the Snow Moon Festival, stated that she and fellow RHA subcommittee members Leanne Mathew and Amelia Cervantez were inspired to create the event because they noticed a lack of recognition for Asian-American students on campus, despite their presence at the university.
“We were thinking that having the community come together, as well as having people know what Lunar New Year is and all the different cultures that do celebrate it, [would make] it a very community-welcoming event,” Segovia said.
National Geographic explains that Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring and thus a new year on the lunisolar calendar. Although the holiday is also known as Chinese New Year, it is celebrated in several other Asian countries like Vietnam, North and South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Each year represents one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, and 2024 is the year of the dragon, reflected in the dragon-themed presentation playing in the background of the Snow Moon Festival.
Upon checking in to the event, attendees were each given “passports” that could be marked off by visiting each table at the event. Rows of student vendors selling handmade goods were the first tables to greet festival goers. These products included crochet accessories, crochet flowers, paintings, phone charms, pins, art prints and tote bags. One student vendor, Hannah Gunyon, heard about the festival after attending RHA’s Sanrio Bingo night and decided to sell her own Sanrio-inspired tote bags there.
“This is my first time [vending] and I’m really nervous,” Gunyon said. “The bags are made to order though, so I also have an Instagram.”
Just past the vendors’ booths were student organization tables for the Asian Student Association and JOLT Action. ASA, a group open to people of any cultural background, aims to spread awareness about Asian cultures and Asian-American issues. Meanwhile, JOLT promoted voter registration for students in light of upcoming elections.
“I feel the Snow Moon Festival will help pave the way for recognition of different Asian cultures and celebrations at our school,” Segovia said. “There’s so many different Asian cultures that are present in our student population, and the multiple Lunar New Year celebrations this past week is only the start.”
Segovia noted that one of these celebrations will be a Holi event on March 25 to help recognize South Asian cultures on campus.
Jocelyn Truong can be reached via email at jtruong1@twu.edu.
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