 Should you take a day off from work and school in order to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the debate is raging on. Maybe that's not a bad idea, but what actually am I going to accomplish and what will it lead to? This article circulating around some Asian professional spheres right now, more Asian-Americans say they're taking off the Lunar New Year even though it's not a company holiday. However, some states are making it an optional school holiday. Wow, so we're going to talk about this guys. Let me know how you want to celebrate the Lunar New Year. If you've got a day off, please hit that like button. Check out other episodes of the Hop-Hop Boys. Also, check out Smella Sauce, sold out right now, but coming back very soon. Are we talking about Sun-Nin, Phylok, Xin-Nin, Kuala, Chuck-Muk-Nam, Moise, Hey-Bog-Ma-Da-Ba-Da. All this talk of Chinese New Year, Ted, Salil, what's going on right now? Because a lot of people are saying should Asian-Americans in the professional workplace take it off? Like they do. Some people take it off the date in Asia, but a lot of people are just like, what's the point? What is it actually going to accomplish? Right, right, right. And I think, so just to lay the groundwork and the details out, the governor of New York has made Lunar New Year an official school holiday across public schools in New York City, meaning that they do get a day off. Now, this year falls on February 10th. It's a Saturday. So school districts will get to decide whether they take the Friday off or the following Monday off. So I guess students, public school students in New York State are getting the day off. Does it seem like pandering for votes? Because it seems like if they really wanted to just make it more multicultural, you would learn about Lunar New Year that day at school or just Asia in general. So people have more empathy and just better racial relations. Yeah, I think that that could have also worked. I think that that is another alternative that you could have had a Lunar New Year day at school. So kids had to come to school and then you spend part of the day learning about it. And then also maybe the lunch is inspired by it or you get some type of treat or see, now here's the thing. Is it just easier to take the day off? Yeah, there sounds like a lot of work and a lot of disagreement over what would be taught. So why don't we just give them the day off and let them decide? No, you know what it is. I will say this, that when they said that she was giving people a day off, it was to celebrate different cultures and not specifically, oh, you got to celebrate Chinese New Year and the red packets and the Hong Bao and you know, or you got to celebrate that, you know, Vietnamese and you have to do this and this and you have to eat the packaged, the like the rice wraps. And then you got to do like there is no requirement on what you have to learn. I guess it's giving people the opportunity to learn on their own. Right. I guess for me, I'm thinking in my head, we don't need it to be a federal holiday, like a paid federal holiday because it doesn't make any sense because we're in the West. I'm not saying there shouldn't be some promotion of cultural sensitivity and learning and like shared respect, but taking the day off, probably not because in the end of the day, we're not in Asia, specifically China takes off the most time, Andrew, officially from the 10th to the 17th. A lot of people take two weeks and it says the factory worked back 40 days potentially. I don't think we need to like slow down the American economy for it, but we could like learn more about each other. You know what I'm saying? Like why can't we learn more about each other, but not like, I just don't understand what because you know what I mean? Like Asian Americans become here to work and like be successful and stuff like that. I just don't understand what my whole thing is this. I feel like a lot of people, they're either like not proud of their Asian side and they just fully adapt to like whatever American Anglo norms there are and it's almost looks ridiculous. And then when they do try to rep it, it's not necessarily repping it with like the savviness that it needs to have either. Like you're oscillating between these two unideal points where you're proud and you're like trying to take a day off from work and nobody understands it. When you could just like wear your cultural clothing to work or like bring something in to like let everybody know or work with. You know what I mean? It takes more work to do it to represent the right way or you could just like be like, oh no, I'm just like everybody else. I don't have my own culture for my own part of the world. Do you know what I'm saying? Like I'm just saying neither seems ideal and it goes back to the point. Is it a carrot or a stick? Like I feel like when you force everybody to take a day off, it's like a stick, but a carrot is like man, like you just made your culture dope that people want to go towards it. Yes. So I kind of agree with you, but I would add on and say I think the day off is cool if we provide something for the kids to do. What do you mean like a like a like is there an event? People don't watch TV anymore. So it can't be a TV marathon. I guess you could be like a streaming. No, that's a good point. If kids are off or we like I don't know if you can make kids all do the same thing or like go to some I even if we go to go to an Asian restaurant, like that's simple. That's honestly, I don't even care what Asian it is. All boba shops, all boba shops gotta do something special. Everybody hang out at the boba shop for an hour or two. I guess now that I think about it, it is easier to just give people a day off. It's easier logistically. It's simpler. It's a day off. Go do it. It's like MLK day. Like, you know, not everybody is delving into a Martin Luther King Jr. documentary every MLK day. They used to back in a day when when when you could only had TV, like every five stations. Yeah, but now that you take the day off and then like a lot of people are just like they're just treated like it's they're not even think they even think about it one time that day. Yeah. So I think it's really about the systems you have set up, especially for kids, because kids don't usually have systems of their own. So anyway, they're just at the behest of the whatever systems they're just legally required to participate. Yeah. Anyways, David, let's let's get into the comment section. What did other people say? Somebody said no, it does not need to be a holiday. Neither is Diwali, Eid, Muharram, but I don't know what these fully things near neither are Jewish holidays. Basically we're saying other cultures that are non Anglo don't get their holidays taken off. But if it means enough to you, then you should take the day off. Yeah. But what if you take the day off, if you're doing stuff and your family had other events all day planned and different things that are culturally respective to each culture, you should. But how many families realistically do? So you're asking David the question and this is an important question. How hard is your family celebrating the Lunar New Year? Because if they got stuff all day and it's like, it's like a wedding day almost like that, of course, people getting like married and stuff. Yeah, of course, you got to take it off because it's just a big gigantic day that like is really busy and it needs all like everybody there. But it's like, if your family literally like just has dinner and then like maybe passes the red envelopes out, does that it doesn't require a day off? It doesn't. It doesn't actually serve. There were some white people mad. I put these comments obviously from Yahoo News that were like, wait, so you're telling me you're going to come to America, not become a part of America and then not want to adapt to what we the culture we already had here in America. My whole thing is like, I can understand that first of all, this is a very uneducated perspective because America has always been sort of this melting pot or at least that's the ideal of America. But I do think that people need to do even a better job of representing their culture at their workplace too, though. Maybe like, I don't know, bring it in some snacks that day, even just some Asian snacks. It doesn't even have to be hyper traditional because some of the hyper traditional stuff is not going to appeal to people. But then what if the snacks don't meet the nutritional requirements needed and they're too sweet? No, you're talking about at the school. I'm talking about at the company. That's why I've always supported like the ice cream mooncakes, you know, because I was like, you know, not everybody wants the regular lotus paste mooncakes with the egg yolk in the middle. That's not accessible to everybody. You're going to make your culture accessible, man. Somebody just said, man, I wish all these companies would give one day of paid vacation. Other people said, I just been taken it off since college anyway. It's culturally important to me. Other people are saying, man, in Malaysia, you get a day off. At least if you're Chinese, Malaysian Singapore gets a day off. Why not us? What do you think, Andrew, would you take the day off? Well, how do you know? Wait, so anybody like let's say you're working at a company, right? It's not like you have to prove to people that you're trying or you're Asian to take this day off, right? You just take it off. And you just requested me like, hey, I'm taking this day off because even if you're like a white person, I think you have to use your PTO days though. It's not going to be like they just give it to you because you're Asian. Like you're going to have to use that delve into your sit piggy bank of your PTO. Yeah, paid time off, right? This is okay. Um, yeah, ultimately guys, this is just like a silly discussion. Andrew, how important we just went to a big company Lunar New Year funded event yesterday. Did it make you more proud of being Asian? Was that a worthy way to spend from 10pm to 12am? You know, if people got stuff set up for people and it's positive and it's fun and it's a good representation, I think people will partake in it, right? What's what's what is positive and fun? Do you have to be learning about harvesting crops or the old lunar solar calendar? Or is it okay if you're just going to an event that where people are popping bottles with models and dragons are everywhere and lanterns are everywhere? Should you take paid time off to go to a Lunar New Year party is a question. That's what you're asking, essentially. Well, they never have them during lunchtime. But yeah, I mean, if you got stuff all day by all means to engage with party at the night and then you should take the next day off, right? Because you're so hungover from to recover from the New Year's Day. Just like New Year's, like a lot of people, they kind of come back on work on January 2nd. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people in San Francisco and Kansas City are taking the next day off after the Super Bowl. Some people, you know, the hard core fans. In the hard core cities, yeah, I could see that. Philly for sure. If they won the Super Bowl, they was taking the next day off. Yeah, I think I think what I would love to see and what I do like about so there's an aspect of the commercialization of Lunar New Year that I don't love but also there is a lot more things to do if you want to be and celebrate Lunar New Year now because the companies are celebrating it. Whether they're building products, the CPG company, yeah, they're building products or throwing events so that you can go to a couple, feel like you celebrated it, be around other people who are celebrating it, and that makes it super easy for you. And that's cool. That is, that means it's integrated in your society. So I guess should you take day off? I don't know. It's up to you. I have no answer for this, but I just know that if you are going to take time off or we're going to give kids time off from school, we should somehow offer some resources for them. Yes, it's not about the absence and then everybody celebrates on their own. You got to actually build new infrastructure to celebrate and educate. That's the A level solution. I'm not saying there's not a B or a C or a B level option with pros and cons. I'm just saying that sounds like the A level one, but probably everybody would argue over it. To their, to their defense, maybe that's coming. Maybe that development of those systems for when kids take time off is coming. But the first thing was to take time off from school. You let me know in the comments down below what you think. What do you guys think? Would you like your school district to make it a legit holiday? Obviously, if you celebrate it, I feel like you're more inclined to say yes, you would want it, but you let me know because it depends on what you're doing instead, right? Yeah, school. And I got a whole nother rant. I can't get into it in this video about people not being proud of it until they see a cool consumer brand that they looked up to do it. And then now they feel good about it. Well, all good questions. Leave it in the comments down below. And until next time, we out. Peace.