On Jan. 26, the Firehouse Arts Center hosted a Lunar New Year celebration at the Pleasanton Senior Center to ring in the Year of the Snake. The celebration kicks off their Cultural Celebration Series where they host free activities and embrace the cultural diversity of the Pleasanton community.
“It is really important to highlight just how beautifully diverse Pleasanton is, and there’s a lot of great traditions we want to celebrate. We’re really happy that we could do it and that we could help organize this for the city—especially free of cost,” said Pleasanton Library and Recreation Department coordinator Cherie Buenaflor-Cheung.
Lunar New Year is a celebration that marks the start of a new year on the lunar calendar. It is celebrated across many countries and cultures that share the same calendar, bringing loved ones together with symbolic dishes and traditions to welcome good luck and fortune in the new year.
“It’s important to have events that really show that Pleasanton cares about the demographic and cares about the cultures that are important to Pleasanton’s people,” said Pleasanton youth commissioner Kaya Kunde (‘28).
The free event featured storytelling, crafts, and performances by the Diablo Taiko Drumming Ensemble, KungFu Dragon USA, and Xiaopei Chinese Dance. With it being the second year since the Lunar New Year celebration was introduced, the directors were able to string together several performing groups and activities.
“[The event is] actually brand new. We’ve done iterations of this in the past, but this is the second year we’ve done our Lunar New Year celebration as part of our larger cultural celebration series, where we celebrate the diverse heritages that make up the city of Pleasanton,” said Buenaflor-Cheung.
The crafts were run by volunteers and included card making, coloring, drawing, and more. Lunar New Year envelopes, typically red, symbolize luck, prosperity and are thought to ward off evil spirits.
“I decided to come help out because I’m a friend of one of the commissioners, and I’m also a youth commissioner. I’m at the coloring booth, and we have a lot of different Lunar New Year themed coloring and fortune tellers,” said Kunde.
Several Lunar New Year celebrations are scheduled to take place across the Tri-Valley area at the beginning of February. The celebrations offer opportunities for community members to experience cultural traditions, performances, and festivities that honor the holiday.
“I appreciate the deep culture of Asian-Americans, and I just love being surrounded by a bunch of people who also appreciate the rich history of their ancestors,” said Tanishka Tambe (‘25).
