CLEVELAND — The Lunar New Year represents the beginning of a new year on the lunar calendar.
At the Asia Plaza in Cleveland, organizers hosted a Lunar New Year celebration on Saturday. Anne Ying Pu, a pillar in the Cleveland Asian community, spoke about what it meant to have so many people together to celebrate.
What You Need To Know
- Asia Plaza hosted a Lunar New Year celebration, which included music, food and performances
- 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit
- There were people from all different backgrounds in attendance at the celebration
- The Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year on the lunar calendar
“It’s a relationship, also very important, it’s a culture,” she said.
George Kwan was also at the celebration. He was one of the traditional lion dancers that performed at the event. He explained what the dance symbolized.
“It’s an Earth-bound deity and what it’s job is is to chase away the evil spirits and bad things from the old year to make way for all the new energy, all the new prosperity for the new year to come in,” he said.
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit. Kwan said there are many things that this could mean for people this year.
“It represents peace. It’s also a very quick animal, so you have to make sure that you’re doing things as they present themselves. Taking advantage of all your opportunities early and throughout the year,” he said.
There were people from all different backgrounds that attended the event, which meant a lot to Ying Pu.
“This is diversity for America. It is like a melting pot. Everyone brings their culture,” she said.
It made both Kwan and Ying Pu happy to see the amount of people that wanted to join in on the celebration of the Lunar New Year.