Chinese New Year passed on Feb. 18., and most Cal High students didn’t even bat an eyelash at this significant holiday.

People don’t understand what Chinese New Year actually represents, or the customs that come with it.

They need to take time to understand these traditions.

Chinese New Year is arguably the most important holiday in Chinese culture, and it comes with certain traditions that are normal to me but confusing to others.

Is is based off the ancient lunar calendar and represents the start of a new life.

Before that most hallowed of days, my mom makes my family clean the house from top to bottom.

Not a speck of dirt or dust is allowed to survive.

My friends think I am crazy because of the number of hours I spent cleaning my room this past New Year – five hours to be exact.

Such extensive cleaning represents starting off the New Year without any dirt or sins. It is a vital part of the holiday process.

It is also traditional for the family to wear a new article of clothing that is either red or yellow. Red represents luck and yellow represents power.

When I was out to dinner with my family at a Chinese restaurant, the only other group wearing red was a table of Caucasians.

The Chinese people were wearing black and white. This is sad.

Black and white represents death in the Chinese culture and completely counters what New Year is supposed to mean.

It comforts me a little to see people eating oranges or chicken, but sadly enough, they don’t even know the meaning behind these two foods.

Chicken is supposed to be eaten the day before, the day of and day after the New Year for good luck.

Eight or nine oranges are supposed to be set out on the table to represent purity.

The only thing that people do think of when the Chinese New Year comes around is receiving money.

They don’t realize that only unmarried and children receive these traditional red envelopes, or the fact that these envelopes are supposed to represent good fortune.

There is a large percentage of Chinese people at Cal High and in our county, but few of them seem to follow these traditions.

Even though my family has become Americanized, we still celebrate Chinese New Year more closely than families who have just immigrated here.

Too many Chinese have stopped embracing this valiant holiday.

They are too caught up in their lives and they don’t realize the things they do on Chinese New Year are bad luck, such as washing their hair, which represents death.

All the traditions that take place for Chinese New Year are important.

They represent Chinese culture and should be taken more seriously.

We need to get back the reverence we once had for this rich, ancient tradition.