PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Hundreds of people gathered in Philadelphia Sunday at the city’s Lunar New Year celebration in Chinatown.
Parade participants performed Lunar New Year lion dances, which are meant to scare away evil spirits and usher in a prosperous new year, in the streets.
Li Jian, the event’s co-organizer has taken part in the lion dance for the last decade.
He says the flamboyant lions, heavy drums and crackling fireworks that paraded through the streets made for the perfect start of the year.
“It makes me feel happy and proud every year coming out here because we’re doing something for the community and we’re doing something for the Asian culture, just passing the tradition on because that’s how we preserve our culture, by doing things like this,” Jian said.
Brendan Lee has been coming to the parade with his family for 50 years and says it holds a special place in his heart.
“We all come out as a family, as a group, from parents passing it on to our children, it means a lot to us.”
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A similar celebration took place Saturday night in Monterey Park, California. Amid celebrations, a gunman killed 10 and injured others at a ballroom dance studio.
Lee feels that, while this is a joyous time, Saturday’s shooting has brought great sorrow.
“Very sad, sad story for that Chinese community, for the Asian community out there for something like that to happen,” Lee said. “We can feel for them, we can empathize with them, and just as a community support and be vigilant ourselves.”
Jian said that, even though the shooting happened thousands of miles away, it still hits close to home.
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“Very saddened, deeply saddened. My thoughts and prayer are with those families and community out there.
He adds, despite the tragic event, their resolve is strong as ever.
“We have to continue, we have to be strong and show that, ‘Hey, we’re going to persist through this,’” Jian said. “We want to bring honor to Asian culture, just show that we’re strong – the Asian community – throughout the country.”