The Library has been ringing in the Lunar New Year this month with virtual celebrations and a lantern craft kit giveaway!
Lantern Craft Kits
If you’ve stopped by the Library in the last few weeks, you’ve seen the beautiful paper lanterns welcoming patrons to the holds pick-up area. So far, we’ve given away approximately 90 lantern craft kits, and we have about 60 left, just in time for the Lantern Festival this Friday, February 26! The Lantern Festival marks the final day of the traditional Lunar New Year celebrations. During the festival, people often hang glowing lanterns in temples or carry them during a nighttime parade. We invite you to stop by this Friday to pick up a kit and celebrate the Lunar New Year with your family!
Virtual Celebrations
On February 9, our weekly cookbook group, Cook The Books, met virtually to discuss foods traditionally served during Lunar New Year. In advance of the event, librarians shared a New York Times article about how Vietnam celebrates Lunar New Year (known in Vietnam as Tết), and the group discussed how the holiday is not just a Chinese holiday, but is celebrated across several different countries and territories in Asia, including Tibet, South Korea, and Singapore, to name a few. Members of the group prepared and discussed various delicious dishes, including several spring roll variations, sticky rice, steamed whole fish, hoisin-glazed spare ribs, spicy Szechuan green beans, and peanut and sesame candy. Yum! The group also discussed the meaning behind some of the traditional foods, such as whole chickens, which represent family togetherness – something that we’ve come to cherish even more deeply this past year.
Our weekly Trivia Night adopted a Lunar New Year theme on February 11, Lunar New Year’s Eve. Over 90 contestants on 25 teams answered questions about Lunar New Year’s traditions, folklore, and food. Later that evening, the librarians who hosted the event received thank you emails from participants, one of whom noted, “Just wanted to let you both know what a great time we had at trivia! We learned a lot about Lunar New Year, and I still can’t get those K-pop covers out of my head!”
We wish you all good health and happiness in this new year, and we look forward to gathering together for next year’s Lunar New Year celebrations!