Brookdale’s Asia Society celebrated Dongzhi Festival on Tuesday, December 3 during college hour.

The members of the club lit up the Navesink rooms of the Student Life Center with an illuminated tree, which symbolizes the tree of life, and paper lanterns. Students were encouraged to write Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters on white paper bags. A candle was placed in each bag to help brighten the atmosphere of night. These, along with other decorations, created beautiful backgrounds where students were encouraged to take pictures.

Members of Brookdale's Asia Society.
Members of Brookdale’s Asia Society celebrated Dongzhi Festival by illuminating the atmosphere of night.

The Dongzhi, “Winter Solstice,” Festival is celebrated mainly in China, Japan, and South Korea to celebrate the coming of longer days and shorter nights. The festival is generally celebrated on December 21 when the sunlight is weak and the daylight stays for only a short period of time, but since the semester will conclude before then, the Asia Society decided to celebrate it earlier this year.

Caption: Tina Chen, Alice Labra Chaves, Litzy Rafael-Osorio, and Jade Palmero, all first year Brookdale students, helped create paper lanterns for the Dongzhi Festival.