Recap on 2/15/2020 Lunar New Year & Riddles

Check out Boston Orange news article here

Check out Epoch news article here

Check out event pictures here

Written by: Joyce C. Chiu (裘錦澐)

On Saturday, February 15, 2020, New England Association of Chinese Professionals (NEACP) held its annual end of lunar new year luncheon and the traditional riddle contest, at Bamboo Restaurant, Bedford, MA.

Over 80 greater Boston area attendees participated in the banquet and festivities. The event started at 12 PM, everyone helped themselves to the abundant buffet with many traditional and special lunar new year dishes, while being served hot tea and soups.

The first entertainment was magic tricks performed by Poyu Chen (陳伯羽). Audience members were invited to participate, but no one could tell how the magic was performed.

The program MC Hsin-Hao Su (蘇信豪) then welcomed everyone, and introduced each of the co- sponsoring organizations in turn. These are mostly affiliated with Asian Americans from Taiwan – religious organizations, academic and professional associations, cultural and ethnic affiliations, as well as alumni associations of both senior high schools and colleges of Taiwan. Each organization briefly introduced their mission and invited attendees to participate in their upcoming events. Raffles were drawn and gifts donated by these organizations were awarded to those whose numbers were called.

The Bamboo Restaurant also put on a special Lion Dance, with traditional drum and cymbals welcoming two lions which performed their lively dance and greeted the guests with good wishes and in turn, received “red envelopes” of small token of money. The bustling and boisterous Lion Dance, true to Chinese tradition, marked the high point of celebration for the occasion.

Also true to tradition, the end of the Lunar New Year, on the 15th of the first month, is celebrated with a Lantern Festival and Riddles. These riddles are usually Jeopardy! style questions with twists of the meaning for participants to guess at unexpected yet clever answers.

Many photos were taken, many old friendships renewed, and new ones formed. Most of all, everyone was gratified to have participated in the celebration of the most important traditional holiday of our culture. From the various announcements, everyone can look forward to a new year filled with exciting and rewarding educational, cultural, business and charitable activities.

The event ended with the new incoming NEACP president, Yafen Kang (康雅雰), welcoming everyone and introducing her new Executive Committee team (Bo-Wen Huang (黃柏文), Jerry Lin (林致中), Lisa

Kang (康麗雪), Hsin-hao Su (蘇信豪), Erica Yang (楊佳璇), Joyce Chiu (裘錦澐).The crowd lingered until well past 3 PM before everyone left. Fun was had by all!

NEACP 2020 Board of Directors –