A student from the J.K. Wong Kungfu Taichi Academy performs Thursday. (Lindsey Perkins)

The loud drums, red and yellow costumes and the colorful dragon are just a few of the things that attracted people to Hughes Trigg on Thursday to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Every year the Chinese Club hosts a celebration of the Chinese New Year for everyone on campus. The president of the Chinese Club, Gregory Kitt, said, “It’s a little challenging getting everything organized, but once it all comes together, it’s more than worth it to be able to show students at SMU the Chinese customs and traditions for this holiday.”

The Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The festival begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar, and goes until the 15th. This holiday is celebrated internationally in areas with large ethnic Chinese populations. These celebrations are marked by visits to relatives and friends, which are called “new year visits.”

The decorations are usually red, and most people generally wear that color because it is believed to scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. Red packets that contain money are given to children by their elders. The amount of money can range anywhere from a couple of dollars to hundreds of dollars.

Firecrackers are also an important tradition of the holiday. They are known for deafening explosions that are thought to scare away evil spirits.

Most of the students at the Hughes-Trigg celebration were either members of the Chinese Club or students who are studying Chinese. However, there were some students that were just passing through who stopped to see what all the commotion was about.

Sophomore Lauren Kennedy stopped to watch the dancers and dragons performing.

“I have never seen anything like this before,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t realize the Chinese New Year was such an important occasion.”

Lisa Anhert, chair of the Chinese department, said she was very pleased with the turnout of the event.

“I feel it’s very important to show the people on campus how important the Chinese New Year is to the Chinese culture,” Anhert said. “The Chinese language and culture classes have been growing steadily over the past few years, and having a presentation like this is a good way for the students to really be able to experience the Chinese culture.”

The festivities lasted for two hours starting at noon, and had a large turnout. Many people learned new things about Chinese traditions at the event. Mahan Garrett, a student who studies Chinese, said the event was a fun opportunity to learn more about this Chinese tradition.

“I am fascinated by the depth and richness of the Chinese culture,” Garrett said.