Lunar New Year Celebrations (special guest Nicole Lee Pack and several ways you can learn and celebrate)
Lunar New Year (the year of the rabbit) kicks off with a fifteen-day celebration beginning January 22. Countries that celebrate are those that follow the lunar calendar such as China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore. There are also many Asian communities all over the world that celebrate and within Canada the highest concentrated population live in Southern Ontario, Southwestern British Columbia and Central Alberta.
As a Filipina Canadian, growing up, our family did not participate in Lunar New Year celebrations, but we were familiar with several of their traditions, with some being similar to how Filipinos celebrated the January 1st new year. One tradition that stands out is the bright red envelope that is filled with money – it symbolizes good wishes and luck. Growing up, my cousins and I would receive that red envelope for Christmas from my Aunt (Tita) Lennie Ching. I knew exactly what I was getting when she handed over that envelope and I already knew how I’d be spending it.
So, while I am not your go-to person for Lunar New Year, I did a little bit of digging and will share some family-friendly events, book recommendations and restaurants to check out.
My go-to person for Lunar New Year is my cousin Nicole Lee Pack. She is my special guest on this blog, and I asked her to share how she celebrates Lunar New Year with her family and some of her favourite traditions.
Tell me a little bit about yourself – My name is Nicole, and I am Canadian born, Filipino descent on my mom’s side and Trinidadian Chinese on my dad’s side. My husband, Daniel, is Canadian born, and both his parents are of Chinese descent. Growing up in Canada, and in a mixed-race family, I never really celebrated Chinese New Year. It wasn’t until I married my husband that I got to experience the traditions firsthand. Now, we like to celebrate with our family, and teach our daughter, Audrey, all about the traditions of the Chinese New Year.
How do you celebrate Lunar New Year? For Lunar New Year we usually have a family dinner with a ton of yummy food, just like any other holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Traditionally we would all wear red as it symbolizes good fortune. We usually eat foods that represent fortune, good luck, wealth, and longevity. Foods such as noodles, mushrooms, cabbage, and clams. It’s also tradition for children to receive red envelopes (we would call these Hong Bao or Lai See). These are usually filled with money from their elders and friends. Some years, we would go out to the restaurant where we would be able to watch a traditional lion/dragon dance.
What are some of your favourite traditions? Some of my favourite traditions of Lunar New Year are spending our time with family, eating some amazing food. One of my favourite dishes that we only eat at and around Chinese New Year is a dessert called nian gao which is also known as sweet rice cake. Another one of my favourite traditions is cleaning the house before the new year celebrations. It’s very important to clean our home and ourselves, which symbolize washing away anything bad from the last year and starting fresh.
For those that aren’t familiar with Lunar New Year and want to learn more or participate in celebrating, what would you recommend to them? I would recommend to anyone who would like to learn more or participate in celebrating the Lunar New Year to check out the lion dance and to participate in the tradition of feeding the monster a plate of cabbage. This tradition also symbolizes good fortune for the new year. As we are teaching our daughter these traditions, we are currently reading her the book called Lunar New Year by Hannah Eliot.
EVENTS AND CELEBRATIONS (Toronto and Surrounding Areas)
Ontario Science Centre – Lunar New Year Fun – Sunday, January 22 at 11:30am and 2:00pm. Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with hands-on activities and a special reading of Twelve in a Race, a rhyming book about the Chinese zodiac. Stop by the Hot Zone before each reading for STEAM-filled Lunar New Year fun with math and science activities and a colouring station with Twelve in a Race illustrator, Sae Kimura.
The Bentway – Lunar New Year Celebration – Sunday, January 22 from 12:00pm – 3:00pm (Food and Lion Dance Performance)
Vaughan Mills – Lunar New Year Kick Off – begins Sunday, January 22 with a live cultural dance and music performance and continues to Sunday, February 5 with Lunar Year Promotions and a Wishing Tree in the event court
Toronto Chinatown and Dragon City Mall – 2023 Lunar New Year Celebrations: The Year of the Rabbit – January 22 and 23, a traditional lion dance to kick off the event followed by a lineup of interactive activities and performances to showcase the rich heritage of Asian traditions and to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit
RESTAURANTS and CELEBRATING WITH FOOD
Superfresh Toronto ($$) – a really unique way to experience the Asian Night Market life, showcasing authentic Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, Indonesian and Japanese food all under one roof. It is open daily at 12noon until late.
At your table, there is a QR code where you scan for all menu offerings, you place your order and it’s sent directly to the kitchen. I ordered Indonesian (mie goreng) and the boys ordered Chinese (bao).
Before heading out, don’t forget to pick up a couple of items at Auntie’s Supply, Asian-owned superette that curates Asian snacks and ingredients (a few of our favs, ube latte kit, calamansi concentrate, pocky and Saint Islands Pies Frozen Pizza).
Superfresh is also hosting Lucky Asian Mahjong Night January 26th.
Pearl Chinese Cuisine ($$$) – award winning authentic Chinese cuisine with three locations (Toronto, Oakville and Bayview Village). A great way to try a variety of dishes is to go for dim sum which is a traditional Chinese meal made up of small plates of dumplings and other snack dishes (a family fav is sui mai, steamed scallop dumplings and shrimp stuffed eggplant. We also love their peking duck and beef ho fun. Other restaurants which are not as pricey as Pearl Chinese Cuisine, but still authentic is Emerald Chinese Restaurant and Summit Garden Cuisine both located in Mississauga.
Want to know other ways to ring in the Lunar New Year and fill your belly? Well Toronto Life is sharing the deets with fifteen restaurants and their special menus.
BOOKS
TWELVE IN A RACE (Ages 3-5)
A rhyming book that explains the origin story of the Chinese zodiac. Perfect to read aloud to your child or in a classroom. I love a book that is both engaging and educational for kids (they can find out which animal matches up to their birth year). Catherine wrote Twelve in a Race as a way to introduce her son to another zodiac story in his Chinese heritage.
It is the perfect book to add to your child’s library or a classroom. Also, a perfect gift for a baby shower or birthday gift.
A SWEET NEW YEAR FOR REN (Ages 3 – 5)
An endearing story about sweet Little Ren who looks forward to helping out family members with food preparations for Lunar New Year but is told that she is too little to help. Beautiful illustrations that had my boys hungry by the end of the story.
I also included the read aloud of the book that I found on YouTube. Click here to watch.
AMY WU AND THE PERFECT BAO (Ages 6 – 8)
Amy’s goal is to make the world’s most perfect bao. A bao is a steamed bun with a variety of fillings such as beef, chicken or veggies. Fun fact – Filipinos call it siopao (pronounced show-pow).
I love Amy’s spunk and her story has a great message of perseverance in her quest to make the perfect bao with her family by her side coaching and guiding her. There is also a recipe at the end of the book which one day I may feel inspired to make the perfect bao!
I had a lot of fun putting together this write up and I’m honoured to have my cousin share her family traditions. Every celebration is an opportunity to learn more about a culture and I’m looking forward to learning more and celebrating the Lunar New Year.
Happy Lunar Year!
Sunshine Lily xoxo
