While all Lunar New Year celebrations are planned around the Chinese lunar calendar, the festivities vary widely in China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam. While the various celebrations are all based on the traditional lunisolar calendar of China, each has aspects unique to its own culture. Embracing Lunar New Year by planning a local event is a great way to highlight your city’s East and South East Asian communities.
How is Lunar New Year celebrated?
The Lunar New Year is associated with a vast range of cultural lore and traditions, including gathering for reunion dinners on New Year’s Eve, lighting firecrackers, and exchanging red envelopes with money enclosed. No matter what, a typical Lunar New Year celebration looks forward to a bright year ahead and is all about coming together with loved ones. We’ve put together some thoughts and ideas to help inspire your holiday celebrations to get the new year started right.
Pro tip: consider seeking out Chinese cultural organizations to ensure your event’s performances authentically and accurately portray Chinese culture.
Host a Lunar New Year cultural showcase
With a tradition that stretches back thousands of years, Chinese culture offers rich opportunities for inspirational and educational showcases and seminars. Consider a demonstration of calligraphy, a seminar on Confucius or Han Buddhism, or even a showcase of the martial art known as kung fu.
It’s a good idea to partner with a local organization when planning your event showcase. This kind of partnership will give cultural groups a platform to showcase their heritage and will help you reach out to your local community. The incorporation of an art or craft fair element helps to support local artists and craftspeople and could potentially introduce them to new customers.
Plan a feast with East Asian cuisine
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a festive meal or a potluck featuring traditional dishes. For example, dumplings can often symbolize wealth while pork will represent strength. Because China and the East Asian region encompass a large space, an array of flavors, textures, and ingredients can be offered. This opens up the possibilities for event creators.
For your own event, consider inviting local favorite restaurants or chefs to be part of a street food pop-up event or tasting festival. Include finger foods and easy-to-hold offerings from across the East Asian region, such as Chinese pork dumplings, gio cha (Vietnamese sausage), and tteok-bokki (spicy Korean rice cakes).
Organize a colorful Lunar New Year festival
What better way to celebrate a culture than with a festival? Consult local authorities about setting a street parade route — and be sure to get any necessary permits for large (paper) dragons!
Consider reaching out to the Asian and Chinese cultural organizations in your area when you’re planning a Chinese New Year event as an opportunity for partnership. Incorporate performances, art, and potentially a fair aspect so attendees are able to explore many facets of Chinese culture.
Celebrate Eastern culture with workshops and classes
Host a workshop centered around Chinese arts, heritage, or culture. Crafting events are family-friendly, and you can offer slightly different projects for adults and children to entice a larger audience.
Chinese and East Asian cultures have plenty of beautiful and distinctive arts and crafts to discover. Workshops on calligraphy, painting, lantern-making, paper folding, mahjong, and tai chi all require minimal materials while offering unique engagement. Set your sound system to play Chinese opera or konghou (an ancient stringed instrument) music to really set the mood.
Mark Chinese New Year with performances
Chinese opera is famous for its elaborate costumes and makeup while Chinese gymnasts are known for their amazing control and skill. Use a gym to host a gymnastics workshop, or host a Chinese opera performance in a theater. Traditional dragon and lion dances, with their flowing banners and large masks, are also favorites during Lunar New Year celebrations. And since the Chinese are widely believed to have invented fireworks, end the night with a pyrotechnics display.
Ready to host a Lunar New Year celebration?
Now that you’ve got plenty of Lunar New Year event ideas, sign up for Eventbrite and create a page for your event. With a wide array of tools and features put at your fingertips, Eventbrite can help you raise awareness about your event on social media, send emails to potential attendees, and sell tickets.
