North Surrey Secondary highlights East and South East Asian cultures for Lunar New Year

As Feb. 17 marks the start of the Lunar New Year, North Surrey Secondary’s Pacific Asian Student Association (PASA) is hosting events and activities to shine a spotlight on the many cultures that celebrate the Spring Festival.

Observed by Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and other South East Asian communities around the world, the Lunar New Year marks the first new moon of the lunisolar calendar and serves as a time to reflect on a year of hard work, as well as wish for a prosperous and luck-filled future in the year ahead. Many cultures adhere to the animal zodiac, with 2026 being the Year of the Horse, symbolizing strength, energy, passion and a free-spirited, independent nature.

The annual celebration goes by several names across multiple languages – referred to as Chūnjié in China, Tết in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea – with North Surrey’s PASA striving to embrace the unique ways different backgrounds recognize Lunar New Year.

“Lunar New Year is one of the biggest events that we do and it really is an opportunity for Pacific Asian students to showcase different parts of their culture and how they celebrate it,” said Jeraldynne Gomez, the sponsor teacher for the PASA.

“The student population at North Surrey is so diverse, and we try our best to create opportunities for these different populations to have representation, whether it’s a post during a particular month to celebrate or bring awareness to different cultures.”

The PASA was founded in 2024 by students Jenny Ye and Hannah N. in an effort to increase representation at the school and enlisted the support of Gomez for this school year. Many nationalities are represented in the association, including students with backgrounds from Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Singapore, with PASA-led events serving to highlight how various countries recognize Lunar New Year.

“I’m Filipino, and growing up in Surrey, I had similar experiences where I didn’t really feel that same representation when I was going to school,” said Gomez. “Part of the focus for PASA is bringing the opportunity for all of these smaller voices that we don’t often get representation from.”

At North Surrey, the PASA will host three unique stations for Lunar New Year representing different countries, with students sharing educational information cards about how each country recognizes the festival.

• The China Station will teach students how to write calligraphy and draw basic Chinese characters, as instructed by experienced volunteers, and offer Chinese snacks such as White Rabbit candy, guava candy and rice crackers.
• The Vietnam Station features games of Ô Ăn Quan, a traditional folk board game that involves collecting the most stones, with prizes of coconut candies and dried fruit candies.
• The Korea Station will host games of Ddakji, a South Korean playground game using folded paper tiles, with plum candies, green grape candies and yakgwa offered as snacks.

Other events and activities include martial arts performances, red paper bag decorating, a photobooth with horse-themed props, servings of dumplings and a chance to win a $15 gift card.

Gomez said the work of the PASA has expanded to spur a similar club at Johnston Heights Secondary, and as these groups continue to raise awareness and increase student representation, she hopes more students will be inspired to start their own associations to better represent their student populations.

“We’re really hoping that this could be more common across the district,” she said. “Surrey is so diverse and this would be something that would be good for the schools.”

Surrey Schools wishes everybody a happy Lunar New Year!