A-CAST FORECAST
- February Newsletter
By A-CAST Youth
(Association of Chinese Americans in Southlake Texas)
New year, new you, and new Southlake Spring Festival! It’s 2024, and the Year of the Dragon is right around the corner, so celebrate the Lunar New Year with us at Southlake Town Square on February 10th, 11 am - 4 pm.
As always, there will be over 60 booths, including the mouthwatering Fat Ni BBQ, beautiful Asian crafts like Chinese knotting, and an authentic Chinese tea ceremony, complete with demonstrations and sampling.
Of course, we can’t forget the annual Spring Show. This year’s line-up features traditional Chinese instruments like the guzheng, trending K-pop dances, exhilarating taekwondo, and a global fashion show with traditional clothing from all over Asia.
Best of all, entrance is entirely free, so go ahead and bring the whole family and enjoy the culture and the atmosphere of the Spring Festival!
BaoBao's Adventure
The first time BaoBao, our panda mascot, came into the public eye was shortly after New Year. Still figuring out how to walk, BaoBao entered Southlake Town Square with a huge support team to help him out. Nevertheless, BaoBao was a massive success. Volunteers, pedestrians, and even drivers couldn’t stop taking pictures of and with Panda!
BaoBao has visited a lot of new places in the past two months! He walked through a warehouse, visited a dojo, attended a dancing session, and toured a hospital. Throughout these experiences, our certifiable cut mascot has learned a lot of new skills. BaoBao can now fit through small doors, perform cool dances, and complete powerful taekwondo maneuvers!
Regardless of the location, BaoBao, the playful panda, always seeks to create fun experiences! If you also want to be part of these experiences, make sure to visit Southlake Spring Festival on February 10th at Southlake Town Square!
Sunet Realty Sponsor Visit (Above): BaoBao shows off his dance moves!
ATA Sponsor Visit (Above): ATA employees taught BaoBao how to bow, chop, and kick like a pro!
Culture Corner
This month’s Culture Corner topic is the talk of the town. Coming up on February 10th (wink wink nudge nudge), it is of course, the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year. Celebrating the beginning of Spring, the aptly named Spring Festival marks the first day of the Lunar Calendar. It is a day of joy and celebration, where families reunite to eat a hearty meal and enjoy the new year together. The festival originated in China, but is celebrated all across East and Southeast Asia, including countries like Vietnam, Korea, and Thailand.
During the Lunar New Year, it is customary to decorate your home with red paper couplets imbued with wishes for the new year. A popular version of this is to write the word “福” or fortune, and then flip it upside down and hang it on your door. It sounds weird on paper, but in Mandarin, the word for “arrive” is a homophone to the word for “upside down.” So when you flip your “fortune” upside down, it’s almost like you’re saying your fortune has “arrived.”
Another tradition of the Lunar New Year is to cycle onto the next animal of the 12 in the Chinese Zodiac, which, in 2024, is the dragon. In Chinese culture, the dragon is considered the most auspicious animal and is generally painted as a creature of great wisdom and power. Those who are born in the Year of the Dragon are said to be wealthier and more successful, so if you see a lot of twelve-year-olds walking around, that’s the reason why.
If you want to learn more about Lunar New years check out these articles down below: 👇 😊
Lantern Festival
The Monster Nian
Volunteering at Feed My Starving Children
In additon to celebrating our cultrue, A-CAST members actively participated into other community events. On December 17, 2023, a windy and cold Texas winter day, the Feed My Starving Children held a large convention of volunteers to help package and send off nutritional and delicious meals to millions of starving children in Africa.
A picture of our wonderful A-CAST volunteers who help pack meals! (some people may not be pictured)
In A-CAST, more than 24 people, adults, and children of all ages help pack 405 boxes which can supply 87,480 meals. That number of meals can support 239 people for a whole year!
Throughout this amazing and fun experience, our volunteers learned how to help the less fortunate across international boundaries whilst enjoying themselves. This volunteer opportunity served as a valuable growing experience for everyone involved, and we aspire to see more individuals participating in the wonderful opportunity at Feed My Starving Children!
A-CAST members took care of food-packing stations and packed as many as they could.
Upcoming Events
Holidays:
Lunar New Year: 02/10/2024
Lantern Festival: 02/24/2024
Dragon Boat Festival: 06/10/2024
Events/Activities:
Total Solar Eclipse: 04/08/2024
Stay Tuned!