Lunar New Year in Boston’s Chinatown: Traditions, Food and How to Celebrate Respectfully

Each year, usually in late January or February, Lunar New Year brings color and sound to Boston’s Chinatown. Drums echo between brick buildings, lion dancers weave down the street and families gather for meals that carry wishes for the year ahead. Here is a guide to the traditions and to the neighborhood that hosts them.

A short history of Boston’s Chinatown

Boston’s Chinatown took shape in the late 1800s, near what is now South Station and the Leather District. Early Chinese residents faced discrimination and the restrictions of the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which sharply limited immigration for decades. Even so, a close-knit community developed, with family associations, laundries, restaurants and grocery stores.

In the twentieth century, highway construction, including the Central Artery and the Massachusetts Turnpike, took land and homes from the neighborhood. Residents and community groups have long organized to protect housing and keep Chinatown a place where working families can live. Today it remains one of the largest Chinatowns in the United States, home to Chinese, Vietnamese and other Asian communities.

The ornate paifang gate at Beach Street, guarded by stone lions, marks the entrance to the neighborhood. Nearby, Chinatown Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway draws on traditional Chinese garden design.

The meaning of the holiday

Lunar New Year follows the lunar calendar, so its date changes each year. It is celebrated in China and in many other communities, including Vietnamese, Korean and others, each with its own customs. Each year is associated with one of twelve animals of the zodiac.

Common themes include family reunion, honoring ancestors, clearing away bad luck and welcoming good fortune.

Traditions you may see

• Lion dances. Performers in elaborate lion costumes dance to drums and cymbals, visiting businesses to bring good luck.
• Firecrackers. Their noise is traditionally meant to scare away bad spirits.
• Red decorations. Red is associated with luck and happiness, and you will see red lanterns and couplets on doors.
• Red envelopes. Elders give money in red envelopes to children and younger relatives as a wish for prosperity.
• Special foods. Dumplings, whole fish, long noodles, sticky rice cakes and oranges carry symbolic meanings of wealth, abundance, long life and good fortune.

How to celebrate respectfully

Lunar New Year is a living tradition, not a performance for visitors. A few ways to be a good guest:

• Support local businesses by eating in Chinatown restaurants and shopping in local bakeries and markets.
• Give lion dancers and their drummers space, and keep children back from firecrackers.
• Ask before photographing people up close.
• Learn a simple greeting, such as Happy New Year, and the name of the year’s zodiac animal.

Planning your visit

Community organizations in Chinatown typically hold public celebrations around the new year, often including a lion dance parade on a weekend. Dates and details vary from year to year, so check with Chinatown community groups and the city’s events listings before you go. Chinatown is easy to reach on the Orange Line at the Chinatown stop, or on foot from Downtown Crossing and South Station.