Chinese New Year Celebration!

Come celebrate the Year of the Dog!  Chinese New Year returns to Pelham Art Center on Saturday, February 10, 2018 with free, family-friendly activities.

From 1:30-2:30 pm, members of Kwan’s Kung Fu, from Peekskill, NY, will perform a traditional Lion Dance, believed in Chinese culture to scare away evil spirits and to bring good luck.   This is always a favorite with the kids!

Around 2:30 pm there will be a paper cutting workshop led by Lida Zimmerman. Participants can make and take home little paper dogs as well as traditional Chinese New Year’s lanterns. The entire event is free and open to all ages.

The Lion Dance program includes an educational and historical introduction to the dance and an interactive performance, followed by a question and answer period. During the performance the giant lion, led by drum rhythms, makes its way around the room interacting with the crowd. Children can feed the lion red envelopes filled with written wishes for good luck in the New Year.

Lion dance, Kwan’s Fung Fu at Pelham Art Center (2015).

Kwan’s Kung Fu has been performing the Lion Dance for more than a decade. The school primarily focuses on Fu Jow Pai Kung Fu, and the Lion Dance is an integral part of Kung Fu Culture.

Chinese New Year is a traditional Chinese holiday that starts with the new moon on the first day of the lunar New Year and ends on the full moon fifteen days later. Each year is named for one of twelve symbolic animals: rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar. February 10, 2018, marks the 4715th year in the Chinese calendar. Ranking as the eleventh animal in Chinese zodiac, Dog is the symbol of loyalty and honesty. People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They are honest, friendly, faithful, loyal, smart, straightforward, venerable, and have a strong sense of responsibility.

Teacher Lida Zimmerman is a native of Shanghai, China.  She studied painting for many years under the tutelage of some of the most famous artists from China. She taught water color painting, pencil drawing and Chinese brush painting for over 10 years in Shanghai and New York. She also knows and teaches the ancient art of Chinese paper cutting.