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Lunar New Year Family Festival
February 3 @ 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
FREE
Tiger Lunar New Year
It’s the year of the dragon! Celebrate Lunar New Year Family Festival at the National Museum of Asian Art with free attractions for all ages, including performances, chef talks, tours, hands-on activities, and more.
It’s the year of the dragon! Celebrate Lunar New Year at the National Museum of Asian Art with free attractions for all ages, including performances, tours, hands-on activities, and more. Advance registration recommended. RSVP here.
Food Vendors:
11:00am-4:00pm: Rose Ave Bakery and Ahjummeow, Ripley Center. Available for purchase while supplies last!
Crafts & Coloring:
11:00am-4:00pm: Create your own Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings mask, Year of the Dragon craft, color tteokguk, Korean rice cake soup, or a bokjumeoni, a Lunar New Year fortune pouch, decorate hongbao or laisee, lucky red envelopes, and more! Located throughout the Freer, Sackler, and Ripley.
Performances and Talks:
11:30am and 12:30pm: Vietnamese Opening Ceremony performances, Discovery Theater in the Ripley Center.
12-1:15pm. Chef Panel Discussion with Lydia Chang, business partner and co-owner of the Peter Chang Restaurant Group. Roren Choi and Caleb Jang, husband and wife team behind the Korean-American culinary project Magpie and the Tiger. As well as Chelsea Tan, owner and founder of CHIBOO Bakery. Meyer Auditorium.
12:30pm and 1:30pm: Lion Dance performances by Yee Fung Toy Association, Freer Plaza and Ripley Center.
Storytelling and Book Signing with Authors and Illustrators
11:00am-4:00pm: Flex Space, level B1.
Tours
1:00pm and 3:00pm: Curator-led tour of Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China by Jan Stuart, Gallery 13.
2:00pm: Curator-led tour of Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings by Keith Wilson, Gallery 24.
Some activities will require free timed-tickets.
About Lunar New Year
Also known as the Spring Festival in China, Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. It is the most important holiday in China, and it is also widely celebrated in South Korea, Vietnam, and countries with a significant overseas Chinese population. While the official dates encompassing the holiday vary by culture, those celebrating consider it the time of the year to reunite with immediate and extended family.
A highlight that often kicks off the holiday is the Lunar New Year’s Eve reunion dinner, a feast with a spread of symbolic dishes representing abundance, all of which are said to bring good luck and fortune. The fifteenth and final day of the holiday is sometimes marked by eating tangyuan, sweet glutinous rice balls, and carrying lanterns to conclude the celebration.
This event is copresented by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam Society, and the Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C.
Read more about the Lunar New Year Family Festival below.