Seniors Celebrate the Year of the Horse

On Saturday, February 7, 2014, the Luque Community Senior Center celebrated the Chinese New Year with music, crafts and lots of information about 2014, The Year of the Horse. The room was festooned with Chinese lanterns and symbols and each table was decorated with a take home placemat that explained each year in the Chinese Zodiac calendar and what the animal symbolism stood for. Each participant could check out the year they were born to discover any ancient Chinese secrets foretold for their very own birth date. JoAnn and Jose Rojas of Colton have been members of the Senior Center for about a year and were there early to participate in the craft before having lunch. “We participate in whatever is going on around here,” said Mrs. Rojas, “We come all the time and really enjoy being here.” They were sitting at the table decorated with symbols of the Chinese New Year alongside a set of chop sticks to help practice their eating with chopstick skills. Lisa Harris of the Luque Senior Center was in the kitchen preparing the lunch menu of orange chicken, chow mein and fried rice. A special treat of almond cookies and fortune cookies were serving as dessert for this special member lunch menu. “Our nutrition center is closed at this time, but the meal has been purchased for the members by the City of Colton,” said Harris. As lunch was readied, Kassandra Martinez and Lee Taylor, volunteers at the Luque site, were helping Emma Oropeza of San Bernardino finish her handmade craft of a picture of a cherry blossom tree. People had gathered to greet each other and got ready to enjoy the Chinese New Year celebration. Joe and Annie Vasquez of San Bernardino were some of the early arrivals, along with Pete and Vera Martinez of Rialto. “We like coming here a lot,” said Vera, “We come every time we can to be with our friends.” Wil Wilson had been on hand and greeted his friend Joe Vasquez with a cup of hot coffee. Harris was excited to bring the seniors together to celebrate this Chinese New Year observance for the first time at the Luque Center. “This is a special event for our members. We celebrate each month and thought it would be fun and interesting to learn about this particular holiday and its traditions. We hope it will become a yearly festivity.”