Last year my family spent the Chinese New Year in Hawaii. My then 5-year-old shimmied in the streets at a local New Year’s festival while feeding dollar bills to colorful dancing lions and dragons. This year Chinese New Year falls on February 3rd and we’ll be roughly 5,000 miles away from the sunny streets of Hawaii where we enjoyed phenomenal parades, a fantastic fireworks show and some of the best homemade Chinese food outside of China.
Sadly, we won’t be spending the kick-off to the Year of the Rabbit in my hometown. However, there are many cities across the country that will be marking the occasion with family-friendly traditional events designed to highlight the Chinese culture.
If you find yourself near the following cities in the coming weeks, don’t miss out of the amazing Chinese New Year celebrations:
San Francisco
Home to one of the largest Chinese populations in the country, San Francisco is a hot spot for New Year’s celebrations. Look for various parades and festivals featuring traditional lion dancing, Chinese opera and martial arts demonstrations. Events continue through February 19th, which is when you can experience the world-famous grand Chinese New Year Parade. The moving party features extravagant floats, lion dancers, Chinese acrobats, and a 250-foot dragon that comes to life thanks to more than 100 people.
Seattle
Seattle boasts one of the most kid-friendly Chinese New Year celebrations with its pet rabbit contest. Children are encouraged to enter their pet rabbits in a Rabbit of the Year contest. In addition, families can partake in various cultural activities, including a food walk, lion and dragon dances, Taiko drumming, martial arts and a children’s parade.
New York City
Manhattan’s Chinatown is the place to be on February 3rd. That’s where the massive firecracker ceremony (to ward off evil spirits) will be held to ring in the Year of the Rabbit. There will also be a festival filled with dancing, eating and a huge parade complete with floats, acrobats, marching bands and lion and dragon dancers. The annual Lunar New Year Festival and Parade coincides with Chinese New Year events at the Museum of Chinese in America, which features lectures, special exhibits and walking tours to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.
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