Chinatown Hosts Lantern Celebration Today

Today's lantern celebration connects to the Lantern Festival, a tradition over 2,000 years old that marks the end of Chinese New Year festivities. Originating in the Han Dynasty, the festival is held on the 15th day of the first lunar month to honor ancestors and promote peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The "Super Saturday" event is a custom unique to New York City's Chinatown, dating back to the 1960s. Since shops were often closed on the actual Lunar New Year's Day, lion dance troupes would return on the following Saturday to perform for merchants, a tradition that now draws massive crowds and over 20 lion dance groups. A traditional food eaten during the Lantern Festival is tangyuan, small glutinous rice balls often filled with fruit and nuts. The round shape of the rice balls and the bowls they are served in symbolize family wholeness and unity. The host, Think!Chinatown, is a non-profit organization founded by community-based designer Yin Kong. The group works to foster intergenerational community through storytelling, arts, and neighborhood engagement, and runs other local cultural events like the Chinatown Night Market and Chinatown Arts Festival. The celebration takes place within a neighborhood steeped in history. Manhattan's Chinatown was established in the late 1800s by Chinese immigrants who created their own community after facing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.