New Year’s All Year Round: Altars, Ancestors, Traditions, & Blessings
January 29, 2022 through January 8, 2023
Uwajimaya & Moriguchi KidPLACE Gallery

Asian immigrants settling in the Pacific Northwest bring with them many holidays from their homelands. One of the most important celebrations is the New Year.

Here in America, Asian Pacific Islander Americans pass along their traditions to their children. Families celebrate in their homes or gather with others in their communities. Today, many Asian Pacific Islander American communities hold large festivals with traditional song and dance performances, parades and other festivities. Much like St. Patrick’s Day, the New Year has become an American holiday that people from all backgrounds celebrate.

While many New Year traditions have changed to accommodate new surroundings in America, their essence still remains. Family, friends and communities join together around food, music, dancing and games to usher out the old year and welcome in the new.

Many Asian celebrations are based on the lunar calendar, which follows the phases of the moon. People from China and Vietnam use the lunar calendar to mark the New Year, which usually falls in late January or early February. Many Koreans celebrate the January 1st New Year, as well as Sol, the Korean Lunar New Year. Filipinos and Japanese mark the New Year on January 1st. Cambodians and Laotians typically celebrate the New Year from April 13th to 15th. Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, while not a New Year celebration, is a highlight of the year and is celebrated across India and by Hindus everywhere. Diwali occurs on the first night of the new moon of the Hindu lunar calendar – corresponding to mid-October or mid-November in the Gregorian calendar. For the Hmong, a hill tribe minority group from Laos, as well as Polynesians from the southern islands of the Pacific Ocean, the New Year starts after harvest time, generally in November.