Event

Lunar New Year Celebration and Other Asian Traditions: Year of the Monkey

Sunday, February 14, 2016, 12–4:30 pm
Sunday, February 14, 2016 - 4:30pm

Join OMCA for the 15th annual Lunar New Year celebration, a fortune-filled family-friendly event to welcome in the Year of the Monkey and celebrate Valentine’s Day. Enjoy an array of Asian traditions in arts, crafts, food, demonstrations, live music, dance, martial arts, and so much more. Explore connections between the diverse Asian cultures represented in California, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mongolian and other Asian cultures.

Students from the Developing Virtue Secondary School will perform traditional lucky lion and dragon dances. Enjoy performances by the Red Panda Acrobats, a magic show by Dan Chan, stories from the Chinese zodiac with children’s book author Oliver Chin, and a chance to meet live farm animals with Little Explorers Petting Zoo. Monglian dancers from Ger Youth Center, Okinawan drumming by Ruy-Q Musasaki Daiko, Vietnamese folk dances and martial arts demonstrations by Vovinam America, Chinese yo-yo tricks performed by the Foothill High School Chinese Yo-Yo Club, and Korean drumming and K-pop dance by student groups from UC Berkeley will round out the performances. 

Korean American artist Youngmin Lee will demonstrate traditional Korean patchwork design bojagi and ArtChef Jimmy Zhang will demonstrate world-class fruit and vegetable carving. Families can also enjoy demonstrations of calligraphy, henna hand art, participate in art workshops led by DEAF Media and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, and more! Food trucks from Off the Grid will feature Asian fusion food, including 3 Brothers Kitchen (Southeast Asian fusion), Hongry Kong (café-style Hong Kong cuisine), and WoKitchen (Chinese cuisine).
 
Plus, enjoy a special fresh flower installation for Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day and paper flower-making project. At the end of the day, visitors can take home a live flower, as a gift from the Museum, given with two requests: that the receiver makes a detour from their intended route when leaving the Museum, and while on this detour, that the flower be given to a complete stranger with wishes for a happy year of the Monkey. And join in a special activity in the Gallery of California Art, Hearts for Art, where you can show your love for your favorite pieces by voting for them with a paper heart.
 

All activities included with Museum admission. 

Day-of tickets: $15.95/adult; $10.95 student/senior; $6.95 youth (9–17)
Entry is free for children 8 and under.
OMCA Members always get in free! Learn more about OMCA Membership.

The Lunar New Year Celebration is made possible in part by generous support from Macy’s and the Oakland Museum Women’s Board.

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