The Lunar New Year has been accepted as a Category II holiday. Now, teachers cannot assign homework the day before or have work due the day or day after.

Although Lunar New Year is traditionally an exuberant, joyful holiday, many students in past years were forced to spend it in a less exciting way: studying for midyear exams. However, Lunar New Year was made a Category II holiday in Brookline this year, offering some relief celebrating students.

Last year, the Lunar New Year was on the same day as the math midyear exams, according to Chinese teacher and Asian Pacific American Club adviser Lihua Shorter.

This was a hindrance to many because instead of spending time with their families and celebrating a culturally important holiday, students were preparing for exams.

“That became a turning point for the students,” Shorter said. “They felt that it was wrong and that our culture is as important as other cultures.”

According to junior Lilian Pan, the co-president of APAC, the lack of a day to celebrate one of the most popular holidays “takes away from the whole point.”

APAC decided to take action and wrote a proposal to Superintendent William Lupini with the objective of making Lunar New Year a holiday in Brookline.

Included in the proposal were personal stories about students’ disappointment in not being able to celebrate the holiday with family, according to Pan and junior Akie Toyama, the co-president of APAC.

This year, however, the Lunar New Year was included on the list of holidays under Category II and was celebrated at the high school on Feb. 1, according to Lupini’s letter sent to parents and guardians.

Category II holidays are not days of low attendance, but teachers are not allowed to assign homework on the day before, and homework cannot be due on the day or the day after.

Many students who worked on the proposal last year have graduated, but Shorter said that they were pleased when she informed them about the progress.

“It made them feel like they did something in high school even though they didn’t get to enjoy the fruit of their labor,” Shorter said. “But it’s something they left behind for future generations.”

Shorter hopes that other districts will follow Brookline’s example of recognizing Lunar New Year as a holiday so that students and families can appreciate the day more.

“The sad thing about the compromise is that the kids really don’t see the big deal of the holiday,” Shorter said. They wonder, “If I still have to go to school, what’s so important about it?”

The high school celebrated Lunar New Year and Asian-American culture with a series of performances in the atrium.

The celebration included a showing of Chinese yo-yo, martial arts with antique Chinese swords, lion dances and various other performances.

However, many Asian-American students extended their celebration outside the school.

Senior Kaitlyn Chin lion danced through Chinatown with her friends, trying to reach every single store.

Others celebrated just by having a nice family meal and exchanging Hongbaos, which are red envelopes containing “lucky” money, according to sophomore Kenny Szeto and senior Grace Yee.

Many of the Lunar New Year traditions are to bring luck to the coming year. According to Pan and Toyama, red and yellow are lucky colors. Once the luck has been created, careful measures must be taken to protect it. According to Chin, people must not wash their hair, do any sweeping, or leave out any sharp instruments for fear that they will wash away the good luck, brush away the good luck, or cut the good luck.

The recognition of Lunar New Year as a holiday will allow students to partake in their traditions without any concerns about school work and will let more people see the importance of Asian culture, said Shorter.

“If you want kids to be proud of their heritage,” Shorter said, “you have to give them something to be proud of.”

Lily Böhlke can be contacted at [email protected].