For the first time ever, California celebrates the Lunar New Year as an official state holiday
- Francisco Silva
- Jan 27, 2023
- 2 min read
In OIS, students and staff alike have flocked to stands adorned with decorations and food, which welcomed warmly the upcoming Lunar New Year, in which the moon enters a new cycle, and thus begins the year of the Rabbit. Officially, the holiday is celebrated by several East Asian cultures – not only in China, or in Taiwan, but in places like Vietnam, the Philippines, or Indonesia – and so on. However, California has declared that it too is now celebrating the Lunar New Year as an official holiday.
The decision comes following a staggering rise in Asian hate crimes across the world which lingers even as the pandemic subsides; but especially in the United States, where in 2021, data from the FBI suggested hate crimes against Asian people had increased by 339%. In a message from Governor Gavin Newsom, which signed the bill declaring the holiday as official, he argues this is a way to “acknowledge the diversity and cultural significance” brought by Asian American people to California, a state which is home to the largest Asian American population in the United States (nearly 6 million people!) and the second highest percentage-wise (17%), only behind the state of Hawaii.
In Chinatown in San Francisco where some of the most fervent celebrations happen, preparations are already underway. Karen Chan, a community member is shopping tangerines. “Tangerines mean luck. We all want luck in the New Year. That’s why we put all these in our home,” she says. The executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Centre, Reverend Norman Fong, is also hopeful for next year. “The rabbit is seen as cute and peaceful, so I hope it’s going to be a more tranquil year,” he says. Mr. Fong has grown in the streets of Chinatown, and has been no stranger to racially motivated hate. As a teenager, he has been beaten up by a gang of Italian teenagers from the nearby Italian neighbourhood, calling him “Chinaman” and believing that Chinatown was taking up space in their own part of the town. “There has always been two Americas – America the ugly, and America the beautiful – and I’m fighting for the beautiful,” said Fong.
Unfortunately, bigotry runs rampant in California, who records more than one third of all documented incidents – according to the Stop AAPI HATE organisation, co-founded by Manjusha Kulkarni. She expresses support for the passed bill.
“The California declaration really says to us that our communities deserve to be seen and heard, and we deserve to celebrate,” she said, adding that it is very important to be “normalising the Asian-American experience as part of the broader American experience,” and move away from the exclusion of people of Asian descent from American culture.
The declaration of the Lunar New Year as an official holiday is a victory for Asian people in California and beyond. To share and accept other cultures and co-exist peacefully, in Western regions or otherwise, is crucial to attaining peace. And on this Lunar New Year, I express hope for peace in the world, more than ever before.
Comments