Celebrating Philadelphia's Asian Community at the start of the Lunar New Year.

WHEREAS

,

The

Philadelphia region's Asian community is gearing up to celebrate the Lunar New Year during the month of February, the holiday period of feasting, traditional cultural performances, and ethnic customs; and

WHEREAS, The Lunar New Year encompasses several holidays celebrating the New Year based on the lunar or lunisolar Chinese calendar. This includes: Chinese New Year, Japanese New Year, Korean New Year,

T

ế

t

, the Vietnamese New Year, Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian New Year, and Losar, the Tibetan New Year; and

WHEREAS, Many Asian countries' New Year festivities are culturally influenced by the Chinese New Year, in that it is a family-centered season during which family and loved ones gather to celebrate and enjoy each other's company with special traditions to usher in a New Year full of luck and blessings, relatives will travel home to celebrate the New Year with family; and

WHEREAS

,

The Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Year is a family centered holiday which include the customs of adults giving small gifts of money to children in decorated envelopes, is celebrated with firecrackers and cultural dancing, and include special foods, family reunions or other pilgrimages, special greetings for health and prosperity, and other regional customs and ceremonies; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we celebrate with the Asian community the start of the Lunar New Year.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Mr. John Chin, representing Philadelphia Chinatown Development Committee, Dr. Jin Yu, representing the Korean Community Development Center and Mr. Thoai Nguyen, representing SEAMAAC South East Asian Mutual Assistant Association Coalition.

End