The Wichita State Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Asian American and Pacific Islander student organization will be co-sponsoring the fourth annual Lunar New Year Celebration. The participating organizations include the Asian Student Conference, Chi Sigma Tau Fraternity Inc., Global Awareness Student Project, Korean Student Association, United Nation’s Children’s Fund, and the Vietnamese Student Association.

“The Chinese New Year is like the Lunar New Year and is celebrated around the same time as the Korean and Vietnamese New Year,” Quang Nguyen, the vice president of the Ambassadors for Multicultural Affairs said, explaining what the celebration is about.

“We wanted to create awareness about the Lunar New Year and the activities that happen during this period in Asian cultures that celebrate it,” said Molly Pham, a pre-pharmacy senior and member of ASC and GASP.

Various activities have been organized to take place during this time period. There will be traditional games and OMA will provide prizes.

One of the games being organized is called “Marble in a Bowl.” Quite literal in its meaning, participants will have to pick up marbles from the floor and place them in a bowl. The tricky part is that the participants will have to do this using only chopsticks.

There will be a dance performance by Patrick Moore, a fine arts senior. There will also be an open mic session during which the organizers will allow attendees to come forward and perform.

“Around 12:30 p.m., students from the East High School will put up a lion dance performance,” Nguyen said.

Lion dance finds its origins in China. It involves two dancers imitating the movements of a lion in rhythm to a percussion band that consists of drums and cymbals. Extremely difficult in nature, lion dance often involves performers climbing, running and jumping on poles, bamboo sticks and in some cases even giant balls that weigh around a ton.

Apart from these events, the participating organizations will have tables set up where attendees can take part in traditional activities that happen during the Lunar New Year. This will be the fourth time there is an official celebration of the Lunar New Year at WSU.

The event begins at 11 a.m. in the Heskett Center lobby and will go on till 1 p.m.