It’s going to be an Ox-picious year! As we celebrate the year of the Ox in the ever-lingering pandemic, family definitely has a different meaning for this Lunar New Year. LunarFest Vancouver brings a series of physical and virtual programming with hopes to ring in an auspicious year for all people.
Until further notice, in line with the public health order, non-essential travel into, within, and out of BC is not recommended. BC residents, let’s do our part by continuing to stay small and support local with your immediate household, in accordance with the latest guidelines.
In every family, there are always stories shared, dinners enjoy ed and portraits that are loved. From these stories, dinners, and portraits, we get to appreciate the characteristics and the spirits of a family. Beyond an individual family, our communities or nations are also like families. Only when we learn to value others like our own, is one truly blessed.
LunarFest Vancouver invites families to share their “Family Dinners” virtually to get a taste of cultures and be curious of how other people celebrate their New Year traditions. In addition to seeing dinners from the local cultural communities, LunarFest team has also partnered with The Story House in Taiwan in the “Melting Pot, I Think Not” program, which features a gathering of cultures through hot pot dishes.
Storytelling and music play an important part of Lunar New Year tradition and LunarFest will offer various formats that are designed to accompany families to celebrate at home. Family stories from Slovak, Mauritius, Mongolia, and Vietnam are just ways to expand our horizon despite our COVID-19 caused limitation in movements. “Storytelling by musicians who are Hakka, Mongolian and Japanese in Taiwan echoes the diverse spirit we cherish in Canada, it is an experience that is often lost in a crowd or an over-hyped celebration,” said LunarFest managing director Charlie Wu.
There will also be an online gallery of family portraits will provide some visual fulfilment for those who crave to see new and interesting works. Another artistic interpretation of the family theme for 2021 LunarFest Vancouver is “Family Untitled”, a contemporary performance commissioned work by choreographer Justine Fraser of Reforming Art Productions. The world premiere presentation is in collaboration with Coastal City Ballet and it will be filmed with no audience and streamed to the online at the end of the festival.
The LNY celebration is always incomplete without getting a reading for the future and owning a commemorative hand-held lantern. In partnership with Taipei’s Xia Hai City God Temple, one will learn the local LNY tradition of entrusting divine influence and getting a reading of the fortune for the year to come whether it is for love, career, health or wealth.
This is the first Lunar New Year where many people are limited in their travels! Don’t worry, LunarFest has prepared a series of DIY virtual workshops that the entire family can enjoy together. From Board Games to knitted tangerines, have fun at home and make lots of decorations with these crafts.
Finally, eight lanterns with designs from two indigenous families originating from two ends of the Pacific Ocean will be part of the Coastal Lunar Lanterns – “Family Ties” in 2021. For Indigenous families in Canada and Taiwan, family is an extremely integral part of their societies and the same value is also shared in the Lunar New Year tradition. Only in the Lantern City Vancouver these lanterns can be presented with the stunning backdrop of mountains and waters of British Columbia; it’s the coming together of nature, history, people and tradition.
As part of the vision to realize the dream of making Vancouver a Lantern City, six more lanterns will be presented at šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square (Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza) as part of the Community Lantern project – “We Are A Family.” To echo the project’s artistic vision of “Family is everything “ with our festival partner, LunarFest Vancouver, LGBTQ2S+ artist Kent-Chan Kusalik, will be featured for the first time with Filipino-Canadian artists Mayo Landicho and Bert Monterona, and returning Squamish artist Cory Douglas as all of them will join the Lantern City family.
Visit lunarfestvancouver.ca for more details and to celebrate the Lunar New Year like no other!
