The ritual ends with an offering of fire to the spirits. But to do this, the man in charge would hold a thin, white strip of paper in his hands, ignite it, and toss it high up into the air when it became too hot to hold. It was believed to be an auspicious sign if the paper floated upward toward the sky and burned completely, leaving only ashes floating lightly in the wind. It remains a kind of mystery as to why the Lunar New Year is known so broadly in America as the Chinese New Year. It may be that the Chinese, being the first Asians to immigrate here, lent their national identity to this annual, Asian-wide celebration.
Many Asian cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year in their own ways.
This is not to deny the Chinese their special status as the first settlers of Asian origin here, but rather this suggestion is made in the spirit of opening up the holiday designation in a way that embraces all Asian Americans. Today, the center provides senior and youth programs, job search assistance and job training, including a Master of Arts in Korean Studies, as well as certificate programs in Korean Language and Culture, ESL courses, and a variety of computer courses. The center is recognized as a Cisco Local Network Academy. The information you receive on-line from AsianWeek is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright protected material.