CHINESE NEW YEAR – also known as the “Spring Festival” is the most widely observed in the United States. It begins with the new moon on the first day after the New Year, usually between January 21 to February 19 and ends on the full moon fifteen days later, although most Chinese Americans limit their celebrating to the first three days. The Chinese calendar recognizes both twelve months in a year and twelve years in a cycle. In the Han dynasty, each year in the cycle was matched with an animal beginning with the rat followed by ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Every individual, according to the Chinese, possesses qualities of the animal in whose year he or she was born. Thus, a person in the Year of the Rat will exhibit persistence, “gnawing away” until a goal is achieved. In Chinatowns, Chinese Americans gather to watch parade. Everyone is thrilled by gum lung, the ceremonial golden dragon. This most beneficent creature, a symbol of strength and longevity for Chinese, floats through streets held aloft by a dozen dragon-bearers, ushering the Happy New Year.
2. MOON FESTIVAL – or mid-autumn festival is a celebration of the year’s harvest and of fertility that dates back to the Tang dynasty in A.D. 618. It takes place on the 15th day of the eight Chinese lunar months, when the full moon or harvest moon, which is considered a female deity, shines more brightly than at any other time of the year. Family reunions and moon gazing are some of the activities. No Moon Festival would be complete without moon cakes- a round-shaped, rich tasting pastry, symbolizing family unity.
B. JAPANESE AMERICANS
1. OBON FESTIVAL – a midsummer festival of the dead, which commemorates those who have passed on in the previous year in an amalgam of Buddhist and earlier Japanese beliefs and customs. In the United States, Obon Festivals feature outdoor activities, including carnival games and Bon Odori, folk dancers in which dancers circle a yagura, a raised platform or tower, to the beat of the Obon Taiko, a kind of Japanese drum.
2. NISEI WEEK FESTIVAL – a celebration of Japanese-American culture. The first Nisei Week was organized in 1934 in the midst of the Great Depression to help the struggling economy of Little Tokyo. Events include traditional Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana), Japanese calligraphy exhibits, Japanese tea ceremony, and samurai sword as doll displays, dance and karate performances and the Nisei Week Grand parade.
3. CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL – held each April in San Francisco’s Japan town to celebrate the coming of spring, a centuries-old Japanese custom. Events are similar to those featured in Nisei Week. The Cherry Blossom Parade features Taru Mikoshi, a portable shrine.
4. In additions to the above celebrations, Japanese Americans also celebrate “Japanese Children’s Day” and commemorates the “Hiroshima Bombing.”
C. KOREAN AMERICANS
1. CH’USOK OR HARVEST MOON FESTIVAL – which falls sometime in September or October and is the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. Large Korean communities around the country hold Harvest Moon Festivals complete with parades and featuring Korean American beauty queens atop floats, marching bands, folkloric grounds and floats representing Buddhist temples as well as Korean churches.
2. CHILDREN’S DAY – falls on the 5TH of May along with chanchi’I, a traditional observance of the first the 61st birthdays. (In history, infant mortality rates in Korea were once so high that children who made it to their first birthday were honored. Similarly, the average lifespan was considered sixty years so those who made it to 61st also received recognition.)
3. KOREAN INDEPENDENCE DAY – Koreans celebrate March 1 as their independence from Japanese occupation and October 9 as tribute to Hangul, the Korean alphabet symbolizing their freedom from Chinese and Japanese domination.
D. FILIPINO AMERICANS
1. STO. NINO FIESTA – The Santo Nino (Holy Child) fiesta is generally observed at the last week of January but various religious groups, mainly Roman Catholics, also celebrate the festivity from December following Christmas until February after Epiphany. The original Sto.Nino was a white icon of the Holy Infant of Prague and was brought to the Philippines by the Spanish missionary who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his voyage of discovery. The icon was given to the Queen of Cebu City when its people were baptized in 1851. Magellan was subsequently killed in the Battle of Mactan, a neighboring town. Years later, a new Spanish expeditionary force wanted to avenge the death of Magellan and bombarded Cebu, mistaking it for Mactan. The city was razed to the ground, the Sto. Nino emerged from the ashes, no longer white but golden brown. At any rate, the icon has become a national religious symbol of Filipinos who are noted for their childlike faith. Festivities include procession of Sto. Nino icons, potluck food which include lechon (roasted pig), beauty queen contests and celebrations of the Holy Mass.
2. ATI-ATIHAN FESTIVAL – In some form of pageantry, the Sto. Nino Fiesta is also accompanied by Ati-atihan which celebrates the meeting of Datu Marikudo, representing the aboriginal culture and Datu Puti, representing the immigrant culture. In pre-Spanish Philippines the encounter between the two communities included blood compact and exchange of gifts. Ati-atihan takes the form of revelry and ecstatic dancing of the atis (charcoal-colored people) to the beat of indigenous drums and gongs.
3. HOLY WEEK – Being predominantly Roman Catholics, Filipinos generally observe the Lenten season, starting from Ash Wednesday up to Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. On Good Friday, Filipino-Americans gather in churches for the “Siete Palabras” (Seven Last Words) or Via Crucis (Way of the Cross). On Easter morning, some parishes observe “Salubong” or the re-enactment of the meeting of the risen Christ with her mother, the Virgin Mary.
4. PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY – June 12, 1898 marked Philippine’s Independence from three centuries of Spanish colonialism. Celebration includes ecumenical Eucharistic services, teaching on Philippine history, singing of nationalistic songs and display of Philippine folk dances and dinner-dances. Filipinos also observe July 4 as “Filipino-American Friendship Day”, recalling July 4, 1946 when the American government granted full autonomy to the Philippines after occupying it following the Philippine-American War in 198-1900.
5. CAÑAO FESTIVAL – a widely-celebrated cultural festival among the people in the Mountain Provinces in the Philippines. The worldwide and very cohesive organization composed of five provinces called “BIBAK” (Bontoc, Ifugao, Benguet, Apayao) lead this Filipino-American celebration which consists of dancing, singing and beating of the traditional gongs.
E. ASIAN-INDIAN AMERICANS
1. INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY – Celebrated in August, the Federation of Indian Associations sponsors a parade with beauty queens and marching bands. Connected to this celebration is January 26, which is the date of the adoption of India’s Constitution in1950 and Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India.
2. DIWALI OR HINDU NEW YEAR – also celebrated in October as a festival of Lights with procession of floats bedecked with shrines with numerous deities.
3. MUSLIM INDIANID-UL-ZUHA – the commemoration of the sacrifice of Abraham which is celebrated in March.
F. VIETNAMESE AMERICANS
1. LUNAR NEW YEAR (TET) – which extends for one week sometime between January 19 and February 20. Tet is the most important secular holiday in the Vietnamese calendar and many Vietnamese families save all year long so they may celebrate it as lavishly as possible. It demands months of preparation, during which houses are thoroughly cleaned and repainted to usher in a brand new lucky year. Vietnamese Tet shares in common with Chinese New Year.
G. CAMBODIAN AMERICANS
1. LUNAR NEW YEAR (CAMBODIAN TET) which falls in April. The Cambodian Tet is a time for Cambodian Americans to make a fresh start, remember their homeland and worship their ancestors.
H. LAOTIAN AMERICANS
1. LAOTIAN NEW YEAR – which like the Cambodian New Year falls in mid-April. Celebration includes washing of the Buddha icon followed by a “feast of lights.” Laotians create a fireboat made-up of bamboo and banana trunks and have places for everyone to place their candles. They also create a floral arrangement with skewers tied with hundreds of white strings attached to the central candle. Everyone sits on mats around the floor of a hall and chant traditional prayers to banish all the bad happenings that occurred during the past year and to usher good ones for the coming year.
I. HMONG AMERICANS
1. HMONG NEW YEAR - is a time of rest from harvest and work. The month of December is a time for Hmong people to start new lives, a new year, or new beginning; a time in which Hmong people call: “Throwing or washing away the old and bad news and bringing the new and good news to Life.” Over a period of three to five days, there are many activities such as sports, like kato, soccer, volleyball, topspin, and various contests like singing, dancing, folk singing, beauty contests and other talent shows. The Hmong New Year Celebration is also a time for young people to find their mates as they have been working all year round and have not had time for courtship. Young people usually get married after the New Year, between the first and the fifteenth of the month. Since Hmong people live in different areas of the country that have different weather conditions, they try to celebrate it closely to December as possible. In some states with more population of Hmong people they celebrate the New Year in October or November, and a lot of people try to attend the big one around mid December, where Hmong people form all over come together.
2. HMONG SOCCER TOURNAMENT - falls on the weekend of 4th of July. Hmong people from all over come and enjoy the weekend together and watch the different tournaments like football, soccer, badminton, basketball, volleyball, kato, and topspin. Besides sports, there are plenty of small shops and food booths to keep everyone busy for the weekend.
J. THAI AMERICANS
1. THAI CULTURE DAY – celebrated on the last Sunday of September, a day of festivities that include a parade of Thai native costumes, Thai kickboxing, mask making and shadow puppetry demonstrations.
(Note: Thanks to all who contributed to this list. If you still have some traditional or cultural festivities you feel should be included here, please contact acabanban@episcopalchurch.org)
