It may have been coincidence, but when University of California President Janet Napolitano announced she was postponing a tuition increase of up to 5 percent each of the next five years, I’ll take that delay as a good omen for the Lunar New Year.
And I’m sure the other parents of the Asian American kids who make up 30 to 40 percent of many of the UC campuses feel the same.
Feb.19 was the start of what most people call Chinese New Year, but in fact it is a far more diverse proposition. The moon just doesn’t belong to the Chinese. The Lunar New Year is the more inclusive term as Feb. 19 is not just Chinese, but a new year for Japanese (prior to 1873), Korean (Seollal), Mongolian (Tsagaan Sar), Tibetan(Losar), and Vietnamese (Tet).
It’s a signal of prosperity, luck and long life.
So naturally, generations come together in family gatherings over meals of traditional comfort foods. The elders are respected. Red envelopes with lucky money are exchanged. And what else do you do with lucky money but play gambling games to make more money.
Napolitano could do nothing better for the Lunar New Year but tell Asian American families that the bill isn’t coming yet.
It was like giving them all a little more for the red envelopes.
