LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON is a nonprofit project of TexAsia /Houston’s Asian American Festival Association, founded in 1980.
Our mission is to preserve, present and promote authentic pan-Asian cultural arts through annual special events for Greater Houston. All our professional productions are Free Admission events for Houston audiences and visitors to the Region.
Event History
We launched Lunar New Year Houston in 2008 celebrating the Year of the Rat to preserve and protect the artistic and cultural authenticity of our 2,000+ year-old New Year heritage for our global region’s international stage.
By 2007, production costs for Lion & Dragon Dances with Lucky Red Firecrackers grew prohibitive for individual businesses and community organizations. Rigorous regulations, fees, permitting, insurance, fire marshals and licensed pyrotechnic contractors put production out of reach for community groups. As the city’s first professional pan-Asian arts presenter, the Houston Asian-American Festival Association (HAAFA) committed to save our New Year celebration in all its authentic elements for the benefit of future generations here. Read more history in the Lunar New Year Story in Houston.
Cultural Significance
The Lunar New Year is the singular shared cultural keystone of our calendars, venerated across Asia over the millennia. Embedded at its core endures deeply held spiritual and human enterprise significance. Its ritual significance of hope for the future & good fortune runs deep not only in family & faith life, but also in family business. Lunar New Year is truly a celebration where culture & commerce connect!
Lucky Red Firecrackers!
LNYH is the largest Asian special event in the State of Texas. Nationally, it is the only public Lunar New Year event still celebrated with traditional fireworks. Worldwide, many Asian cities no longer permit fireworks with Lion & Dragon Dances in their public New Year celebrations. Asians believe “It’s not really New Year without Firecrackers!” This is likely why LNYH attracts such huge crowds, including tourists.
Lions & Dragons!
The Lion Dance dates back to 510 A.D., while the Dragon Dance’s origin dates to 200 A.D. The Lion, traditionally regarded as a ‘guardian’ creature, figures prominently in Buddhist tradition. Regarded as a ‘sacred’ creature, symbolizing power, courage, righteousness and dignity, the Dragon is considered by the Chinese as the ‘sign of their ethnic identity’.This ancient ritual ceremony holds deep meaning for many Asian cultures.
Our City is home to many Asian cultures that assign great significance to this celebration of the Lunar New Year, including Houstonians from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam,Malaysia, Sydney, and Singapore, with each region possessing their own Lion Dance styles.
The Lion Dances presented at LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON are of the ‘Southern style’, performed to exorcise Evil Spirits and to summon Luck & Fortune. The Dragon Dance signifies the end of the year and welcoming New Beginnings, driving away Evil and blessing all with Health & Prosperity.
Dancing atop the roar of Lucky Red Firecrackers, with giant drums, cymbals & gongs, the Lions & Dragons make Great Noise to chase away Bad Fortune of the Old Year.
All-Volunteer Production Staff
This is an all-volunteer produced event. Our volunteer professionals contribute their time each year to make this signature International event happen for our World City! A Texas-size THANK YOU to:
Vican Tan Sun, Glenda Joe, Minh Huynh, Jimmy Nguyen, Phan Duy, Mai Le, Amie Tran, Yani Rose Keo, Faye Chin, Mark Takayama, TK Nguyen, Everett Gorel, Tony Joe Yeung, Rathna Kumar, Shiow-zui Sherry Chang, Michael Chou, Marv Kuo, Judd Huang, Lisa Sun, Janet Tang, Hai Nguyen, Brad Goad, Beverly Williams, Jennifer Fanjing Greene, Peter Kuo, and Danielle Surkatty.
Photography Credits: Dean Quach and Mike Le
Performers
Lion Dance Teams:
Son Long Lion Dance Linh Son SW Temple
Phap Luan Temple Lion Dance
Teo Chew Temple Lion Dance
Phi Long Lion Dance
Lin Son Youth Association Lion Dance
Linh Son NW Temple Lion Dance
Shaolin Kung Fu Lion Dance
Martial Arts:
Shaolin Temple Kung Fu Arts
Vovinam Viet Vo Dao Martial Arts
Songshan Shaolin Temple Kung Fu
Music & Dance:
Changlu Wu Classical Chinese Music Ensemble
RMD Japanese Grand Taiko Houston
Korean Farm Drum & Dance Ensemble
Happy Dance Chinese Senior Ensemble
Thu Thuy Vietnamese Traditional Music
Anjali Center for Indian Dance
Ari-Rang Korean Dance Company
Lunar New Year Houston News
Year of the Earth Pig – 2019
The Pig Year wants us all to get along. Kind of refreshing, yes? Given the "risky business" of the 2017 Rooster preceding the dire [...]
Year of the Earth Mountain Dog – 2018
"Good Dog!" "Bad Dog?" 2017 richly rewarded risk-taking, while the Fire Rooster's rude awakenings came home to roost amid the combustible chaos of the [...]
Year of the Fire Rooster – 2017
Super Lunar New Year Prepare for a Year of Consequential Fowls! The Rooster. The Phoenix. The Wild Goose Chases... Our mercurial Monkey Year, chaotic [...]
Glenda Joe – Extraordinary Texans – 2016
These people help make Texas spectacular Written by Clayton Maxwell. What does it take to be extraordinary? The Texans in these pages have each [...]
Lunar New Year Houston Awarded Top Festival 2016
Dubbed the largest Asian celebration in the state, this visually striking Lunar New Year Festival in Houston is a Texas-sized Asian New Year extravaganza [...]
Year of the Red Fire Monkey – 2016
This Fire Monkey Year focuses more powerful karmic Yang energy on success for the Individual with personal initiative, not for the Group. This Year favors [...]
Year of the Green Wooden Goat – 2015
Heads up! This will NOT be your typical Goat Year! There is a confluence of cosmic forces coming that portend the Good Fortune of [...]
Lunar New Year Houston 2015 Dedicated to the Vision & Leadership of Our Founder & Chairman
Daniel Hiroshi Watanabe In Celebration - 1929-2014 Daniel Hiroshi Watanabe, age 85, died in Houston on December 28, 2014. Born August 6th, 1929, in [...]
Year of the Water Horse – 2014
Lunar New Year Houston 2014 As the wise Water Snake slithers back into its karmic Yin darkness, we sense a faint, but steady pounding [...]
Year of the Water Snake – 2013
The Snake is wise. The Snake is unforgiving. Understand this to prepare for the Year of the Snake. The Snake is the most complex [...]
Year of the Water Dragon – 2012
One of five distinctly formative Elements energizes each of the 12 zodiac creatures every 60 years. While the Dragon Year comes every 12 years, [...]
Year of the Rabbit – 2011
Greetings, LNYH Fans! Bring the whole family to celebrate the New Year with 100 Lions & Dragons and a million Lucky Red Firecrackers! New [...]
The Lunar New Year Story in Houston
In 1930, there were fewer than 30 Chinese in Houston. By then, Houston’s Chinatown had moved from its original location at 600 Texas Avenue to the southeastern outskirts of town on Chartres Street at Rusk Avenue.
The On Leong Chinese Merchants’ building in Houston’s then-new Chinatown became the venue for the City’s first community Lion Dance celebrations for Lunar New Year. Endless strings of Lucky Red Firecrackers were suspended atop the green tiled roof. The three-story building housed the community’s elaborate Ancestors Altar, civic meeting & banquet space, as well as the ‘old bachelors’ living quarters. By 1950, there were just an estimated 1,000 Chinese Houstonians.
For most of the second half of the twentieth century, Houston’s Chinatown New Year celebration was a grand spectacle. Lion dancers precariously balanced on each other’s shoulders to reach the Jade Green Lettuce Heads that hid the Lucky Red Envelopes of money, amid the incessant roar of millions of firecrackers. This was the collective community memory of New Year for the entirety of Houston’s Chinese for 60 years.
Until the 1990’s, when Houston’s East Asian immigration exploded, some 250 – 300 small Asian businesses and community organizations celebrated with Lion Dancers and Firecrackers each New Year. “Lunar New Year without firecrackers is NOT a real New Year celebration!” was the sentiment echoed by many, including Vican Tan of Viet Hoa Center, venue host of Lunar New Year Houston since 2008.
In 1994, the City clamped down on Lion Dance fireworks and the hundreds of authentic New Year celebrations dwindled to a single small event in Houston. The prohibitive expense of meeting the City’s safety and permitting policies heralded the demise of this most consequential cultural keystone of Houston’s Asian community. The loss of these essential ritual celebrations in the community resulted in the dwindling of arts groups dedicated to practicing and perfecting the Lion & Dragon Dance art forms in Houston.
Since those days, this historically genuine art form was only kept alive in Houston by a single Asian entrepreneur. Mr. Henry Chiu, of Tan Tan Restaurant, a Cantonese-ethnic Vietnamese national refugee, resettled his family here after fleeing war-torn Vietnam. He truly believed that the great good fortune of his family and business in Houston was based in his cultural fidelity to the authentic Lunar New Year celebration.
Each year, in their tiny parking lot, Tan Tan Restaurant hosts all the City’s Lion Dance groups celebrating the New Year with millions of Lucky Red Firecrackers. For years, this was the only chance for Houstonians to experience a ‘real Lunar New Year’ event. Even though this event was not marketed city-wide and the size of the audiences was limited by the small venue, Mr. Chiu single-handedly saved an ancient art form for our International City. It is his unwavering dedication that serves as our inspiration.
The cultural import of this ancient ritual ceremony is not well-understood by the American public, yet it holds deep meaning for many Asian cultures. The City is home to many Asian cultures that assign great significance to this celebration of the Lunar New Year, including Houstonians from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sydney, and Singapore, with each region possessing their own Lion Dance styles.
The Lion Dance dates back to 510 A.D., while the Dragon Dance’s origin dates to 200 A.D. The Lion, traditionally regarded as a ‘guardian’ creature, figures prominently in Buddhist tradition. The Dragon, always regarded as a ‘sacred’ creature, symbolizing power, courage, righteousness and dignity, is considered by the Chinese as a ‘sign of their cultural identity’.
IN 2008, LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON was launched. The authentic Lion Dances presented at LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON are of the ‘Southern style’ and are performed to exorcise Evil Spirits and to summon Luck & Fortune. The Dragon Dance signifies the end of the year and welcoming New Beginnings, driving away Evil and blessing all with Health & Prosperity.
The dances are performed atop hundreds of thousands of Lucky Red Firecrackers, accompanied by giant drums, cymbals and gongs, to make an immense noise to chase away Bad Fortune of the Old Year. As many as 80 Lions and Dragons perform at LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON with nearly a million red firecrackers!
This unique cultural arts event is the first professionally produced Lion & Dragon New Year ceremonies for the City of Houston. LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON is a FREE outdoor event for family audiences. This year, on February 7th, LUNAR NEW YEAR HOUSTON attracted an audience in excess of 40,000.
All of the world’s International Cities boast of elaborate traditional Lunar New Year celebrations. True dedication to the authentic celebration of Houston’s Lunar New Year will bring Good Fortune to Our City.
The Sage advises: “Feed the Lions and bring Good Fortune in the New Year!”
The Lunar New Year Story in Houston
byGlenda Joe
www.LunarNewYearHouston.com