Spring Festival Cultural Celebrations and Temple Fair!
Spring Festival Cultural Celebrations and Temple Fair!
Red and gold scales caught the sunshine as drums echoed across campus; our Dragon and Lion Dance was the first sign that Spring Festival celebrations at WAB were underway. As the biggest holiday in our host country, Spring Festival at WAB is a shared cultural moment, a chance for students, staff, and families across divisions and backgrounds to learn, participate, and celebrate together.
The morning began with the Dragon Dance, led by our Middle and High School students, as they brought the community to Tiger Field for a whole-school assembly celebrating Chinese culture and featuring student performances, including a bilingual song from JG1 and sword dance from our sixth graders. The assembly then flowed into buddy activities, with Elementary, Middle, and High School students paired up to explore and learn side-by-side.
This day was one of our four “Day X’s” of the year: intentional whole-school days when our cross-divisional buddy groups come together. With the same buddies throughout the year, older students take the lead, first learning alongside adults and experts, then supporting younger buddies to try new skills and ask questions. For Spring Festival, buddies moved through two connected experiences: hands-on cultural activities including calligraphy, shadow puppets, gongfu and more, and the Temple Fair, where older students helped younger buddies take part, navigate the stalls, and sample the many foods on offer.
Inspired by the tradition of temple fairs during Spring Festival, WAB’s Temple Fair is organized by our China Studies team, with support from Chinese Link, visiting experts, and 200 parent volunteers from across our community. It’s a hands-on way for everyone, from new families to long-time WABbies, to learn more about Chinese traditions, and to share that learning with others.
Whether families celebrate Spring Festival at home or are experiencing it for the first time, our festivities on campus offer a simple reminder, we learn best when we learn together and when we take time to learn more about the place we call home.
- China Connection
- Inspiring Learning