Get ready for the Year of the Snake.
The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in China and many Asian cultures. According to the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., the holiday marks the end of winter and the start of spring on the lunisolar calendar. It’s a 15-day celebration full of feasts, decorations, celebrations and family get-togethers.
The Pittsburgh Chinese Culture Center returns to the Pittsburgh Playhouse Downtown Saturday for a gala celebration of the Lunar New Year. The event will begin at 1 p.m., with free Chinese street food samples, games and cultural demonstrations until 3:30 p.m. Then, a performance featuring PCCC’s own Performing Arts Group, Yanlai Dance Academy, Xiaobo Waist Drum Dance Group, School of Oom Yung Doe, Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh Chinese School will begin at 4 p.m. and run until 6:30 p.m.
This year’s gala has the theme “CivilizASIAN,” representing a fusion of East and West in artistic performance. The show will be directed by renowned event planner, performer and producer Xiang Sean Gao.
In a “Letter to the Community,” Goa wrote, “I hope the diverse Pittsburgh community will gain more ownership of Asian American art and culture that has enriched the lives of people and helped make Pittsburgh an attractive, vibrant and welcoming American city. I also hope Asian American youth will feel proud of their unique identity and brilliant culture to proudly contribute to America as the future leaders of our shared world.”
So what can attendees expect from the show?
“Basically, it’s a variety show of many traditional Chinese performing arts,” said Hong Zhang, director of development of the Pittsburgh Chinese Culture Center. She cited Peking opera and kung fu as examples.
She has been pleased with the response from the wider Pittsburgh community to previous years’ galas.
“There is always a lot of attendance from outside the Chinese communities. There is a lot of interest among the Pittsburgh people. So it’s very nice for all,” she said.
Chairman of the Pittsburgh Chinese Culture Center Dave Jiao emphasized the importance of the holiday.
“It’s really a time for the family reunion. And then sharing blessings and the fostering of connections,” he said.
Zhang harkened back to her own family’s Lunar New Year traditions, especially on the first night of the holiday.
“It’s a family affair. We make food. I’m from northern China, so dumplings, that’s a staple food,” she said.
After family gatherings on the eve of the new year, she said that the next day is spent visiting friends and neighbors in the community.
“The second is another very interesting tradition. We go to the mother’s family. You know, a woman usually married into a husband’s family, so that is where the family is. But on the second of Lunar New Year, we all go back to the mother’s maiden family. That was a very treasured memory for me,” she said.
The celebration lasts until the full moon on day 15.
She said the gala the Chinese Culture Center holds in Pittsburgh every year is reminiscent of huge, televised programs held on New Year’s Eve back in China. Zhang said that families would gather together to watch them.
“It’s hosted by the central TV station. … The best performance artists will show up. The celebrities, everybody’s idols will appear there. So it was very popular. So this tradition, this is really a new, very popular tradition, and this is what, for overseas Chinese people, also has become our tradition,” she said.
Tickets for the Jan. 25 Greater Pittsburgh Lunar New Year Gala at Pittsburgh Playhouse in downtown Pittsburgh can be purchased at playhouse.pointpark.edu.