The Year of the Rooster Starts January 28
by Stranger Things To Do Staff
The new lunar new year begins on Saturday, January 28, 2017. Last year, Stranger food critic Angela Garbes wrote that, "even though it doesn't get the fanfare that New Year's Eve meals get, for Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese people, Lunar New Year is a deeply significant holiday." But in Seattle, there are several public events throughout the coming weeks to mark the beginning of the Year of the Rooster, ranging from the Tết in Seattle festival to a Chinese New Year celebration at Lucky Envelope Brewing to the Chinatown-International District's Lunar New Year Festival.
JANUARY 21
1. The 50th Annual Lunar New Year Gala
UW's Chinese Student Association will host this festive gala to celebrate the Lunar New Year, with performances including a variety of dance (from traditional Chinese dance to hip-hop), Chinese yo-yo, martial arts, and Chinese flute—plus a photobooth, crafts table, and chances to win prizes.
2. Lunar New Year Banquet 2017
Celebrate the Year of the Rooster with the Seattle chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. There's a silent auction, a performance lineup, and a menu including hot and sour soup, General Tso's chicken, and broccoli beef.
JANUARY 21-22
3. Tết in Seattle
Over two days, revel in Vietnamese music, food, performance, and art at this Tết (Lunar New Year) festival at Seattle Center. There will also be a free health fair.
JANUARY 28
4. Chinese New Year Celebration: Year of the Rooster
Lucky Envelope will introduce Buddha’s Hand Citron IPA (!!) and Mijiaya Historic Chinese Beer (named for an archeological site in northern China and brewed with squash, millet, lily flowers, yams, and Job's tears) for the Lunar New Year. Come for the crazy cool beer (as well as some barrel-aged brews) and grab a hot dog from Chavoya's cart. First 30 to order a beer or cider get a special surprise in a lucky envelope.
5. Lunar New Year 2017 - Vice Saturdays
Dance in the Year of the Rooster with a multi-room DJ zone at STAGE, including a Vegas room helmed by DJs Dlion and Raf and a Miami Room with DJs Xpression and J.Plaga, as well as a live lion dance performance, fireworks, and lucky red envelope giveaways all night.
6. Wing Luke New Year Fair
Celebrate the advent of a new year with a full day of free activities, starting with the traditional lion dance and firecracker explosions (on King Street outside the museum) at 11 am. Then, from 11:30-5, there will be a whole day of family-friendly activities, including making Lunar New Year crafts, touring the museum building, and playing in a "stuffed animal petting zoo" to learn about the Asian zodiac. Free to kids and students with ID.
JANUARY 29
7. Chinatown-International District Lunar New Year Festival
After the Wing Luke Museum's New Year Fair on Saturday, the Chinatown-International District will continue its Lunar New Year celebration with a full day of activities at Hing Hay Park. There will be traditional dragon and lion dances, taiko drumming, martial arts, a children's costume contest, and a food walk, in which a variety of food items from local restaurants will be available for $3—and if you collect stamps from at least five of them, you'll be entered in a drawing for round-trip tickets on Delta Airlines.
8. Lincoln District Lunar New Year: Year of The Red Rooster
Celebrate the Year of the Rooster with a street festival in Tacoma's Lincoln District with delicious Asian food, lion dance performances, games, firecrackers, and shopping booths.
9. UW Lunar New Year Festival
FIUTS, the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students, will throw a family-friendly Lunar New Year bash in the University of Washington's Red Square, complete with "traditional dragon and lion dances, Japanese Taiko Drumming, martial arts and other cultural performances on the Lion Stage."
FEBRUARY 3
10. Stevens Pass Lunar New Year
Head out to the mountains for Lunar New Year for lion dancing, a torchlight parade, and deals on skiing. Asian food specials will be offered from 5-9 pm.
FEBRUARY 4
11. Free First Saturday for Kids: Lunar New Year
Celebrate the Lunar New Year (and the Year of the Rooster) at this day of activities inspired by Tabaimo's exhibit of video installations at the Asian Art Museum, Utsutsushi Utsushi. At the event, they promise live music, martial arts performances, dress-up, story time, family tours, and drop-in art activities.
12. Lunar New Year at the Bellevue Collection
This day-long culture fest will usher in the Lunar New Year with dance, Chinese opera, crafts for all ages, dumpling samples, and demos in calligraphy and martial arts. See a performance by the South Puget Sound Chinese Language School Lion Dance Troop, hear music from the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra or from Shirley Wang on the venerable stringed guzheng, and don't miss the big parade from 2-3 pm.
FEBRUARY 11
13. New Year Celebration: Guam
This Lunar New Year celebration by Tacoma's Asia Pacific Cultural Center promises 70 booths for food, arts, shopping, cultural demos, and more. The theme of this year is the vibrant Pacific Island territory of Guam.
FEBRUARY 26
14. ICHS Lunar New Year 5K
Celebrate the Lunar New Year, get some light exercise, and raise money for International Community Health Services at this festive 5K.
THROUGH JANUARY 31
15. Uwajimaya Lunar New Year
From now through the end of the month, Asian food superstore Uwajimaya will give lucky red envelope prizes to those who buy $30 or more worth of their sale products, which include tasty Asian ingredients for your Lunar New Year feast. Plus, on Saturdays and Sundays, Yenbo Huang will demonstrate the delicate art of Chinese calligraphy and make you a lucky Chinese character, and, on January 22, there will be a traditional lion dance.
THROUGH MARCH 24
16. International Dumpling Crawl
Discover Chinatown-ID history through local dumplings on a one-mile tour on Fridays, combined with tasty lil' starch pillows. As the Wing Luke Museum explains, dumplings tend to crop up around Lunar New Year in great quantities, as they "represent wealth, looking similar to ancient gold ingots in some Asian Pacific cultures."