Year of the Snake celebrated at Red Hook school by Nathan Weiser

PS 676/Harbor Middle School had another family fun night on January 28 after school in their cafeteria. The theme was Lunar New Year.

Lunar New Year began on January 29, which marked the arrival of the year of the snake. The Lion Dance is performed during Lunar New Year as well as iconic firecracker ceremony.
There was Chinese food and snake and lantern themed activities in the cafeteria during the afternoon event.

The sustainable cooking club, which is an elective that meets once a week, cooked sesame balls with red bean paste as well as dumplings with Bok Choy, Shiitake mushrooms and tofu.

They grew the Bok Choy in their hydroponics classroom, which is an initiative of New York Sun Works organization with additional support from Council Member Alexa Aviles.

This lab has allowed them to grow a lot of greens and veggies, which they also use for the dumplings. The club has made dumplings every year for the holiday.

The sustainable cooking class is for middle school students. In an effort to involve the elementary school kids, the 8th graders cooked a dish for the 3rd and 4th graders and the 3rd and 4th graders made pesto.

In addition to the dumplings and sesame balls, there was vegetarian and chicken fried rice, and chicken dumplings bought from Nom Wah in Chinatown, the oldest continually operating restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Red Hook Art Project had a table with supplies where the students could make Lunar New Year lanterns.

RHAP, which is located at 291 Van Brunt Street, is a non-profit organization that provides free visual art, music, academic and stress management instruction to children and youth who live in and around Red Hook.
Keeping with the Lunar New Year theme, there was an origami table with instructions on making a lanterns and a pin wheel.
At another table, people could find out their Chinese zodiac sign. People would find the year they were born on the chart and then find the animal associated with that year and the personality traits of that animal.

Each zodiac animal’s year comes around every 12 years. Each Chinese zodiac animal has personality traits assigned to it by the ancient Chinese.

Chinese people believe these traits will be embodied in people, according to their zodiac sign. The snake’s personality traits are enigmatic, intelligent and wise.

There were colorful green and purple pieces of paper where people could write down the above information corresponding to their birth year.

There was coloring table where students got to color in snakes, since this is the year of the snake, on sheets of paper for Lunar New Year. At the snake craft table, their were supplies like envelopes, glue and scissors to do the crafting.

The Red Hook Library had a table with a calendar of events at their temporary location on 362 Van Brunt Street. They had flyers promoting some of their upcoming events, pencils as well as bookmarks that had book recommendations on the back.

One bookmark had the words live, laugh, love and on the back had these teen books: Love From Mecca to Medina, Happily Ever Afters, Love Radio, Cafe Con Lychee and If You Still Recognize Me.

One flyer was for TEEN DIY, which is where teens got a chance to explore their creative side with a snack provided. The series included fibers arts and spin art.

Another flyer was for the learn to draw comic books class with Mr. Nick. It takes place on February 4, 11 and 25 from 3 – 4:30 pm. It will also take place on Tuesdays in March and April.

Amazon provided support for programming and interim library services at the interim library in Red Hook.

Nathan Weiser