Heralding A New Beginning: Wellington Chinese New Year Festival Rebrands To Lunar New Year Festival

Asian Events Trust (AET) has announced the heralding of a new beginning with a rebrand of Wellington’s much-loved Chinese New Year Festival to the Lunar New Year Festival in 2022.

Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China but it’s also a major event in other Asian countries. More commonly referred to as Lunar New Year, it’s based on the lunar calendar and can fall between mid-January to late February.

With an estimated 2 billion celebrating the Lunar New Year in some way, it is a festival for a quarter of the world’s population, including; China, Hong Kong, Macau and nine other Asian countries – Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, North Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Brunei.

Linda Lim, Chair of Asian Events Trust says, “After 20 years of organising Chinese New Year celebrations in Wellington, we are very excited to develop and present a new festival that continues our commitment to enrich and engage our audiences, to reach Wellingtonians of all backgrounds and cultures.”

“1 February 2022 celebrates the Year of the Water Tiger. Connected to flowing or a body of water, the sign of the Water Tiger signifies a resolute and unyielding entity of movement and restfulness, and also of recharging energy. Following the Water Tiger’s direction to recharge or revitalise, AET will rebrand the 2022 Chinese New Year Festival to the Lunar New Year Festival,” says Lim.

New Year celebrations are an important part of Wellington's events calendar, providing a platform for local community groups to showcase their talents and engage the wider community to experience and be enriched by a vibrant and diverse culture.

Statistics NZ’s latest projections show a quarter of New Zealand's population could be Asian in 20 years' time as the country becomes increasingly diverse.

The Lunar New Year Festival will build on two decades of Chinese New Year celebrations in Wellington, to bring the wider Asian community together by:

• empowering communities to share their culture and tell their stories
• supporting local creative talent, encouraging contemporary, established, and emerging artists
• providing a platform for artists to practice and share their creativity
• enlivening our streets, places and spaces with enriching arts and cultural experiences
• making arts and cultural experiences accessible to all communities
• collaborating with local, regional, and national organisations and institutions

“We are looking forward to welcoming many more communities to work with us to create a festival that will further increase exposure, awareness, understanding and acceptance of Asian art and culture, and New Year traditions,” says Lim.

AET have commenced planning to deliver Wellington’s inaugural celebration of the Lunar New Year from 01-12 February 2022. Registrations for the 2022 Lunar New Year Festival will open in the coming weeks.

“Weaving tried and true elements of past festivals, the 2022 Lunar New Year Festival to welcome in the Year of the Water Tiger will be innovative, colourful and dynamic. It will be an event that further enhances the city’s reputation of being the arts and culture capital of New Zealand,” says Lim.

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