Celebrating the Year of the Horse

The World Trade Center celebrates Lunar New Year every year through arts and culture activations. This year, the Oculus will be lit red and gold on February 17. There will also be a musical performance by the Roses Trio on Sunday, February 15 at 12:30pm. 

To learn more about the holiday and its traditions, we spoke with a member of Port Authority’s Asian American Association (PA-AAA), Sophia Hsu. Sophia is Technology Application Specialist in the Technology Department.

1. What is Lunar New Year?

Sophia: To me, Lunar New Year is a fifteen-day celebration saying goodbye to winter, welcoming spring, and making room for new beginnings, better luck, and time with family.

2. How do you celebrate Lunar New Year?

Sophia: Personally, I have my 3Cs: cleaning, couplets, and cash. Deep cleaning cleans out any bad luck accumulated in the previous year. Hanging couplets on my front door hopefully brings good luck and blessings. Red envelopes for unmarried nieces, nephews, and cousins require cash. There is an optional fourth C -- crackers, as in firecrackers, but that one is location-based.

3. What cultures/countries typically celebrate Lunar New Year?

Sophia: Many of the countries that now celebrate Lunar New Year are partially the result of the Chinese diaspora. Many cultures still rely on the lunar calendar, and each have a different “new year”, but Chinese-influenced Lunar New Year is celebrated globally now, anywhere there are East Asian communities. The celebration is centered around family. Each day is centered on visiting a different branch of the family.

My paternal family is mostly in Taiwan. My maternal family is all over from Myanmar, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, France, and even to the UK.

4. Your favorite part of the holiday?

Sophia: My favorite part of the holiday was never the red envelopes or the banquet level meals, but it was cooking with my family which I don’t get to do often as we are scattered all over the globe.

5. Any special foods/customs? 

Sophia: Fish. Always fish because the word for fish 魚 [yú] is a homophone for abundance/surplus 餘 [yú]. My family always has citrus fruits as well because the word for round圓 [yuán] is a homophone for the word for the currency unit 元 [yuán], especially in China.