Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year and is considered a major holiday in many households that celebrate the event. The annual date for this holiday varies since it is tied to the cycles of the moon in the lunar calendar. Many cultures including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian to name a few celebrate this important event. Each culture celebrates Lunar New Year differently with various foods and traditions that symbolize prosperity, abundance, and togetherness. This year, the second new Moon after the winter solstice occurs on February 10, 2024, marking the first day of the Lunar New Year and the year of the wood dragon based on the Zodiac system. Although there are many similarities, there’s also differences in how we celebrate.

In my Vietnamese culture, we refer to the Lunar New Year’s celebration as Tết to welcome the arrival of spring and the new year with great fortune, harvest, and prosperity based on the lunisolar calendar cycle. This is why Lunar New Year’s is celebrated on a different day every year which can range in between late January to mid-February. I can recall some of my earliest childhood memories of this fun and festive time receiving red envelopes stuffed with lucky money (referred to as li xi) from adult family and friends in exchange for verbal affirmations wishing them good health and prosperity. I also reminisce about how my mother would buy a lot of various fruits and set them out on the dinner table as she would stay up late the night before preparing the banana leaves and ingredients to steam bánh chưng all through the night. Paris By Night music would be playing throughout the house all day long as countless friends and family would stop by to share in the celebration repeating the phrase, “Chúc mừng năm mới!” which meant Happy New Year! As a child, I was only excited to receive lucky money from my red envelopes.

As a fun fact to kick off the coming of Lunar New Year, below are the Chinese Zodiac animals of your HAPPEN Executive Leadership Team:

Thanh Tran, Year of Horse                Sarah Pamies, Year of the Dog

Jim Mendoza, Year of the Rabbit     Charice Pidcock, Year of the Dog

Kyle Manglona, Year of Horse          Nicholas Vann, Year of the Tiger

Lynora Hirata, Year of the Rabbit     Denise Ross, Year of the Monkey

Trixi Yotsuda, Year of Horse             Christina Pourarien, Year of the Dragon

Nadia Damchii, Year of Horse          Brian Lock, Year of the Dragon

Kennly Asato, Year of the Dog

Here’s to wishing you and your family a prosperous, healthy and bountiful Lunar New Year!

Warmly,
Denise Ross, Legacy Ex-Officio Member