Cultural engagement is a crucial part of the YHALE curriculum. Our annual Lunar New Year celebration provides an opportunity for students and the community to learn about one of the most important holidays in many East and Southeast Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié (春节) in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal (설날) and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết.

The holiday celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar and was originally observed to honor household and heavenly deities and ancestors. The Lunar New Year typically begins with the first new moon that occurs sometime between the last week of January and mid February. The holiday spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar—until the full moon arrives.

Each year of the Lunar calendar is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals included in the cycle of 12 stations or “signs” along the path of the sun through the cosmos. Year 2025 is the year of the Snake in Chinese and Korean cultures, and is the year of the Wood Snake on the Vietnamese zodiac.  More information about Lunar New Year: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/chinese-new-year.

Every year, we celebrate the Lunar New Year with cultural presentation tables, Asian foods, arts and crafts stations, cultural performances, and a parade featuring traditional cultural clothes. We hope that you will consider participating in 2025 Lunar New Year Festival, it can be a wonderful fundraising event for your non-profit organization and a great opportunity to expose your business or products to a new audience. We are expecting a great turnout and hope that you will join us!