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It’s the Year of the Dragon! The Myriad Botanical Gardens and the Asia District Cultural Association are hosting a Lunar New Year Celebration at the Gardens. This will be happening on Friday, February 10, 2024, from 11 am to 2 pm. This festival is free and open to the public.
Lunar New Year, aka Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, falls on different dates each year as it follows the lunar calendar, falling on February 10th this year. Lunar New Year is celebrated not only by people of Chinese heritage but also people whose parents or grandparents come from South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Philippines and Indonesia.
The Chinese zodiac assigns each year to one of twelve animals. This year it will be the Year of the Dragon which represents health, strength and good fortune. People born in the Year of the Dragon are believed to have natural leadership, charisma and boundless enthusiasm.
Red is the lucky color for Lunar New Year. People celebrating Lunar New Year visit family and friends bringing gifts of oranges and other fruit and special food items. Adults give out red envelopes (hondbao) filled with lucky money to children and the elders. Everyone enjoys fireworks and brightly lit lanterns.
The Lunar New Year Celebration at Myriad Botanical Gardens will feature cultural performances and Lion Dances.
Performers include
- Golden Tiger Martial Arts
- OKC Kendo Dojo
- Kanpai Japanese Taiko Drums
- Moonlight Blossom
The celebration will have face painting, music and crafts. The crafts include
- Origami Dragons with Zephyr Andrews
- Calligraphy with Japan America Society of Oklahoma
- Red envelopes
Oklahoma City restaurants and food trucks will be at the celebration with food available for purchase. These will include
- Oh My Gog!
- Yum Yum Bites
- Cupbop
- Big Bang Theory
- Momocha
- Boomtown Creamery
If you’d like to go to the celebration and look the part, here are some great shirts you can wear.
Asian Cuisine
If you enjoyed Asian food at the festival and want to learn more about Asian cooking, try these cookbooks. And you can use our links to see how much money you can save on them.
- 101 Asian Dishes by Jet Tila
- Easy Asian Cookbook: 100+ Takeout Favorites Made Simple by Kathy Fang
- Asia: The Ultimate Cookbook
Oklahoma City Hotels
If you’d like to visit Oklahoma City, you should consider the following hotels. They are all offering discounted rates which can save you money on your stay.
- Comfort Suites Meridien & I-40 19% Discount
- Quality Inn Moore – Oklahoma City 19% Discount
- Sleep Inn & Suites Bricktown – near Medical Center 19% Discount
- Econo Lodge Oklahoma City 19% Discount
- MainStay Suites near Medical Center 19% Discount
- Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Oklahoma City at Northwest Expressway, OK 15% Discount
- Comfort Inn & Suites Oklahoma City near Bricktown 15% Discount
- Radisson Hotel Oklahoma City Airport 15% Discount
- Econo Lodge Inn & Suites near Bricktown 14% Discount
- Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Norman 14% Discount
- Quail Springs Inn & Suites 10% Discount
- Clarion Pointe Oklahoma City Airport 5% Discount