PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Penn Museum is celebrating global cultures and ringing in the Chinese New Year.
For more than 40 years, CultureFest has been the museum’s most popular event series, recognizing cultural traditions from around the world.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s so traditional. When you think of the lunar new year, and you think of the parades, this is what you see—the lions out dancing. Some people call them dragons,” says Tina Thomason with the museum. “We’re starting the day off with a lion dance. We’re ending the day with a lion dance. It’s going to be great!”
The festival continues by honoring traditions observed by Asian communities of China, Vietnam, Korea and Tibet, and celebrating the lunar new year, transitioning from the year of the dragon to the year of the snake.
“It’s glitter, it’s good luck, it’s fortune and well wishes for the new year.”
They will begin the day by awakening the lion with a special eye-dotting ceremony, followed by a cross generational good time.
“Then we go into the Little Mulan Dance Troupe performing their traditional Chinese dances. We have the Korean fan dance,” she said. “We have musicians, K-pop performers, and there’s tai chi.”
There will be vendors, food and art.
“We also do some art-making. So families can go ahead and experience things together. We’ll be making snakes, it’s the year of the snake.”
And for those with more talent than others—”we’ll be doing some Chinese watercolor painting, so, looking at landscapes.”
The event is on Sat., Jan. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the museum on Penn’s campus.