Celebrating Chinese New Year

Graphic illustration of a tiger and paper lanterns to celebrate Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year 2022 falls on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022, and celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on Feb. 15, 2022. 2022 is the Year of the Tiger.

Below is a list of Student Government Association (SGA)-sponsored events to celebrate Chinese New Year. There are some exciting upcoming events and collaborative activities for everyone to enjoy. 

This year, SGA had to make the difficult decision to hold a virtual celebration. With the recent Omicron surge and all associated uncertainties, it seemed more important to acknowledge this important holiday closer to the actual date than to wait in the hopes for an in-person celebration.

There are several synchronous events to partake in:

Virtual tea ceremony and paper lantern crafting:
3-5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31, 2022

Follow along with the tea club and enjoy making a paper lantern. All tea and crafting supplies will be provided for you (RSVP at the link below). Feel free to use your lantern to make your space feel festive, or to drop off at the table across from the library for us to hang up around school.

Food symbolism and demo with Ellen Goldsmith:
Noon Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022 

Join adjunct faculty member Ellen Goldsmith, MSOM, LAc from your own home to hear about Chinese medicinal foods. We will even provide some key ingredients for you to make your own goodies.

RSVP so we can get a tea kit and food supplies to you before the events (NUNM login required).


Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, featuring Heiner Fruehauf:
5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022

The Oregon Association of Acupuncturists is sponsoring a talk by Heiner Fruehauf, PhD, LAc, founding professor of the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at NUNM. Reserve a FREE ticket at the link: https://www.oregonacupuncturists.com/events/giants/

Other Asynchronous Activities

Write a note to our amazing Chinese medicine professors! If you must pick one activity to do, please choose this one! Our professors are working extra-hard to provide NUNM students with an outstanding education. We truly couldn’t do it without them, so let’s show them some love! Find paper and markers and drop off notes of gratitude in the box across from the NUNM Library, Jan. 24-27. Please turn in all notes by 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, 2022.  

Help decorate the library with paper tigers! Find paper across from the library and follow this link https://youtu.be/dPth1fWOpps to make an origami tiger (or 2!). While this is a Japanese tradition, we intend and hope for the activity to welcome in the New Year and to demonstrate that collaboration need not only be in person. We also hope that you return your folded tiger to the collection box across the library (same as where paper is) so we can string them together and beautify the school.

We hope you’re all able to participate in a few of these activities to not only celebrate Chinese New Year, but also each other! Coming together as a community is so important and a medicine in itself.