HUGUENOT—On Feb. 8, the monkey will take over for the year of the sheep in the Chinese lunar calendar and Asian cultures around the world will be celebrating the New Year into second week of February.
About 250 people gathered in the Huguenot firehouse on Jan. 31 to celebrate the holiday, an event put on by a group of Deerpark residents who wanted to share the holiday and their culture with the community.
“There are more and more Chinese that live in this area and the New Year is a big event for Chinese so, you know how Americans have Christmas parties, we just wanted to have a Chinese New Year party,” said Feng Qing Chang, one of the organizers and a native of Taiwan.
The two-and-a-half hour event had lion dancing, Chinese calligraphy, a Pipa player, over 700 handmade dumplings, Chinese tea, a lotus origami-making workshop, and a Chinese astrology interpreter, as well as a musical performance by students from Fei Tian Academy, a bilingual Chinese-English middle and high school in Cuddebackville that specializes in the performing arts.
“We were really happy because we invited Fei Tian Academy of the Arts … we asked for three or four students to perform … and they surprised us with 30,” said Tysan Lerner, one of the organizers and a Deerpark resident.
Lerner said they were worried about getting enough people to come, but in the end they had 197 people R.S.V.P. and even more showed up without notice.
“We didn’t expect so many people,” she said. “Everybody kept saying we should go into a bigger place, this place is too small, but this is the biggest place we could find.”
This was the first year they have thrown a Chinese New Year party, she said, and they plan to do more Chinese holidays going forward, including Chinese New Year again next year.
People watch a lion dance performance during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Larry Dye)
Lion dancers perform at the Huguenot Firehouse during a Chinese New Year celebration on Jan. 31, 2016. (Larry Dye)
One of the lion dancers holds the lion head after a lion dance performance for Chinese New Year at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Musicians from Fei Tian Academy in Cuddebackville perform at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Larry Dye)
Falun Dafa practitioners perform the Falun Dafa qigong exercises during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, was introduced to the public in China in 1992 and has since spread around the world. (Larry Dye)
Falun Dafa practitioners perform the Falun Dafa qigong exercises during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, was introduced to the public in China in 1992 and has since spread around the world. (Larry Dye)
Mei Wu of Cuddebackville introduced people to Falun Dafa, a meditation and qigong practice, at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Han Chang (L) and Xiaona Sun dressed in traditional Chinese outfits as they introduce Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese meditation and qigong practice during the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Meihua Liu from Middletown shows her hanfu or traditional Chinese clothing at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Wan Rong (L) of Otisville and Wen Geng of Albany wearing Hanfu, traditional Chinese clothing at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Wan Rong (L) of Otisville and Wen Geng of Albany wearing Hanfu, traditional Chinese clothing, at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Vivian Ge of Flushing plays the pipa, a Chinese lute, at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Sophia Bronwen, a resident of Mount Hope and a teacher at Fei Tian College in Cuddebackville, at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Fifteen-month-old Sandpiper Sautter of Unionville at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Jack Austin of Huguenot wears a traditional Chinese jacket for the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
A tea set at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times
Instructors teach how to make origami lotuses at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
An origami lotus flower with a tag reading "truthfulness, compassion, tolerance." Making the decoration was one of the activities at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Alexandria Arredondo, 12 of Huguenot (L) and Tatiana Stinson, 7, of Greenville show lotus flower decorations they made at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Yuzhou Ba of Middletown demonstrates how to make a dumpling at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Liang Zhao of Middletown watches boiling dumplings at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Pork dumplings died green with spinach juice at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Pork dumplings died red with beat juice at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
People sample dumplings during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
People sample dumplings and other food during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Larry Dye)
Yun Shiang of Middletown poses with a pipa, a Chinese lute, at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Meihua Liu from Middletown pours tea during the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Yi Yi Chou of Otisville interprets the Chinese zodiac at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
Amy Lee of Port Jervis writes "Samantha" in Chinese calligraphy for the Chinese New Year celebration at the Huguenot Firehouse on Jan. 31, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)
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