It is interesting to note, and somehow expectedly, that almost every after Chinese New Year celebration, we hear comments of, or have been asked by, well-meaning individuals why ISA’s Chinese New Year presentation is often devoid of typical “Chineseness”. At a post-celebration meeting, this issue was even raised by a school representative.
The answer is simple: ISA anchors its celebration of Chinese New Year on the latter’s relevance. Chinese New Year is relevant only as far as the degree of Chinese-Filipino integration into our society has attained. In the context of ISA, it is how far we believe Chinese values should blend with the mainstream Filipino culture. This is the overarching question learning centers like ISA should attempt to answer. And this celebration is one occasion we may use to candidly fill out the psychological hiatus in the minds of many. Without discounting the need of their presence, not much actually the display of lions or dragons nor the “pure” Chinese dances, which are at anyone’s fingertips anyway, can help on this account. Chinese culture, with all its inherent uniqueness, possesses elements of universality, more so, it is malleable towards modernity. This is what ISA has been trying to show to the general public.
