How to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Dallas-Fort Worth

Dalia Faheid
Andy Wong/Associated Press

This Sunday will be the start of the Lunar New Year, when Asian communities throughout Dallas-Fort Worth will ring in the Year of the Rabbit. Here’s what to know about the holiday.

What is the Lunar New Year?

The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunar calendar.

It’s celebrated by more than a billion people worldwide, including among Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese Americans. It begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon. The holiday is a time for feasting and honoring household and heavenly deities, as well as ancestors, per history.com.

“Lunar New Year is a time for reunions with families and loved ones to celebrate new beginnings,” writes Asian Americans Advancing Justice in a press release.

When is the Lunar New Year?

The Year of the Rabbit will be welcomed on Jan. 22 and will last until Feb. 9 next year.

The date is determined by the lunar calendar, which is based on the cycles of the moon. It’s 21 to 51 days behind the Gregorian Calendar. While the dates change every year, they always fall between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20, according to China Highlights.

Traditionally, celebrations last for 15 days, from New Year’s Eve on Jan. 21 to the Lantern Festival on Feb. 5. To mark the end of the holiday, colorful lanterns are lit, people watch dragon dances and children answer lantern riddles.

How is the Lunar New Year celebrated?

Each culture celebrates the Lunar New Year differently, with their own foods and traditions to mark the occasion. Houses are meticulously cleaned to get rid of bad luck in preparation for the new year, and some households hold rituals offering food and paper icons to ancestors. Some post red papers and banners with calligraphy and wishes for good health and fortune inside and in front of their homes. Elders often give out money in red or white patterned envelopes to children, and families eat glutinous rice.

In Chinese cultures, fish is typically served during the New Year’s Eve meal for good luck, along with glutinous rice ball soup, moon-shaped rice cakes and dumplings. Vietnamese households decorate their homes with kumquat trees and flowers, and families feast on fruits to honor their ancestors. Korean families gather at the house of their oldest male relative and eat sliced rice cake soup and a five-grain dish.

What is the Year of the Rabbit and the Year of the Cat?

Each year in the lunar calendar is represented by an animal sign. The 12 zodiac animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

Observers will bid farewell to the Year of the Tiger and usher in the Year of the Rabbit, or the Year of the Cat for Vietnamese Americans.

“Unlike the tiger, which brought energy and passion, but also impulsiveness and unpredictability in 2022, the water rabbit and the cat both represent empathy, reflection, and peace as many hope for calmness and tranquility in the year ahead,” AAJC said.

The rabbit symbolizes longevity, peace and prosperity, according to AAJC. Each zodiac sign corresponds to one of the five elements, earth, water, fire, wood and metal, with this year being the water rabbit. The past years of the rabbit were 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011. The next one will be 2035, according to China Highlights.

For Vietnamese communities, the cat embodies longevity, determination and good fortune along with peace and stillness. The last Year of the Cat was in 2011.

What is the Lunar New Year greeting?

Communities have different ways of greeting each other in honor of the holiday. In Mandarin, a common way to greet someone is by saying “New Year Goodness,” “Good New Year” or “Happy New Year.” In Vietnam, the greeting also translates to “Happy New Year” and another traditional greeting is “Gracious Wishes of the New Spring.” South Koreans say “May you receive lots of luck in the New Year” while North Koreans say “Congratulations on the New Year.”

Lunar New Year events around DFW

  • Chinese New Year Festival: Sat. Jan. 21, 9 a.m. – noon NorthPark Center, organized by Crow Museum of Asian Art. Mark the beginning of the new lunar cycle with a free festival that has lion dances, traditional crafts and lots of delicious food.

  • Lunar New Year Festival, Year of the Rabbit: Sun. Jan. 22, 2 – 4 p.m. Grandscape will be hosting a free event with performances, traditional food, arts and crafts and giveaways.

  • Lunar New Year Gala: Sun. Jan. 22, 11:30 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. 5025 Custer Rd, Plano. Welcome the Year of Rabbit at a gala hosted by General Association of Henan. It will feature Henan regional Chinese cuisine, a lion dance, Henan opera, a Kung Fu performance and a raffle drawing up to $1,000. Tickets will be sold at the door. They’re $15 for adults, $5 for kids over 10 and free for younger children.

  • Lunar New Year Celebration: Sat. Jan. 28, 10 a.m. - noon Frisco Ranch Shopping Center. This family-friendly Frisco event features lion dances, musical performances, a K-12 art competition and red envelopes.

  • Lunar New Year Banquet Celebration: Sat. Feb. 4, 6:30 – 9 p.m. Kirin Court. Ascend North Texas will be celebrating the Year of the Rabbit with a full Chinese banquet-style dinner. Admission is $35 for members, $50 for non-members and $25 for students.

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