Geraldton rings in Lunar New Year with singing and dancing from local students

Geraldton residents have rung in the Lunar New Year with a celebration on Sunday, including lion dancing and musical performances.

Tuesday marked the Lunar New Year, celebrated across parts of Asia and welcoming the year of the horse. The festivities began on Sunday morning in Rocks Laneway, where an audience gathered to watch a variety of performances.

It’s the fourth year Joanne Chan, principal of Chung Wah Chinese School in the Mid West, has organised and hosted a Lunar New Year celebration in Geraldton. The event has been supported by Euphorium for the past three years.

“It’s quite immersive and it’s very inclusive as well. Everybody can come,” she said.

This was reflected in the audience, where proud parents watched their children perform songs in both English and Chinese and musical guests showed off their talents on traditional instruments.

The morning ran smoothly as Ms Chan guided the children through their performances, provided insight into traditions and walked the audience through saying simple Chinese phrases. The upcoming Year of the Horse symbolises high energy and passion.

Adults who engaged with her language quizzes were rewarded with a gift voucher to AJ’s Beach Cafe and children were given chocolate coins, an echo of the tradition of giving children red envelopes containing money during the Lunar New Year.

Ms Chan said a large part of the event was sharing Chinese culture with the wider community.

“In my Chinese class, we learn the Chinese culture and the language as well,” she said.

“I have different abilities of kids, like non-Chinese background kids and some Chinese background kids, learn from each other and exchange culture as well. So learning language is not only learn our language, it’s also learning each other.”

She added that multiple countries celebrated Lunar New Year, so the event was also a chance to learn from other cultures’ traditions and celebrate together.