First Free Church Unforgettable Spring Festival Cultural Night

Written by: Phil Zhang   Photography: Phil Zhang  WZ

On February 8, a Spring Festival celebration called "Happy Spring Festival·Cultural Night" was held at First Free Church. The event was jointly organized by the St. Louis Chinese School and First Free Church. Guests attending the party included representatives from the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Gateway Dragon Boat Festival, RGA, Charles Schwab and Maria Hou Arts Center, the St. Louis-Nanjing Sister Cities Committee and the St. Louis Chinese Evangelical Church, as well as Asian American citizen scholars.

Aims to build a platform for the community to celebrate the Spring Festival and spread culture. This event has been held since last year and has attracted nearly a thousand people to participate. It has become the largest local Spring Festival celebration. Organizer He "Alex" Gu said: "The Spring Festival has become a world cultural heritage. There are more and more activities held among Chinese in Missouri. Becoming a legal holiday is our goal in the future."

The event started at 5:30Pm and was divided into three stages: cultural activities, New Year's Eve dinner, and cultural performances. Before watching the performances, people first experienced the Spring Festival.

The huge hall was filled with a festive and peaceful festive atmosphere. Red lanterns hang high, colorful balloons flutter, and the walls are covered with photos and paintings. There is an endless stream of people, dressed in their best clothes, shaking hands and greeting each other. There is a lot of noise.

Various customs that express the traditional Chinese Spring Festival are concentrated here. Children guess lantern riddles and play the game of "pitching pots"; photographers take family photos for people without stopping. The drums of welcoming guests continue to accompany them. In the joyful music of "step by step", people of different skin colors gather together to make dumplings.

Writing Spring Festival couplets is a traditional activity of Chinese calligraphers. The famous calligrapher and painter Liu Xuan wrote on the spot "A firecracker is used to get rid of the old year, 

and peaches are used to renew the year", "The sky increases the years and people increase their lifespan, spring is full of blessings and the house is full of blessings", "Spring breeze, flowers and birds are singing, and the moon night is full of rhymes and piano sounds". A gentleman said with emotion: "The flowers are similar year after year, but the people are different year after year" can also become a pair of Spring Festival couplets. This year's difference is the first Spring Festival after the successful "application for world heritage", which has an unusual meaning. We not only celebrate the Spring Festival ourselves, but also promote the ‘Spring Festival culture’ to the world.”

Ms. Chen Yizhen brought her own dough and stuffing for making dumplings, and introduced the stuffing recipe to her Spanish friends at the same table. This was her first time celebrating the Spring Festival overseas. “It’s so fun to celebrate the Spring Festival with foreigners in a foreign country! In China, there are not so many people celebrating the festival together. Only family members get together, and relatives visit each other, and there are no performances to watch. Everyone is happy together, blessing each other, and whether they are strangers or acquaintances, they are harmonious and friendly. It would be great if it were like this at ordinary times! ”

At 5:30pm, the New Year's Eve dinner was ready. Various symbolic traditional New Year's Eve dinner delicacies exuded tempting aromas. This was an "open" New Year's Eve dinner, where families or friends gathered together, and strangers quickly became familiar with each other.

At 7:00pm, the cultural performance began, and the lights in the auditorium with thousands of people were intertwined and colorful. Melodious music, gorgeous costumes, graceful dances, and passionate singing. The singing and applause intertwined and echoed for a long time. It was an audio-visual feast, a night that condensed passion and dreams. The festive joy and the charm of Chinese traditional culture left people with unforgettable beautiful memories.