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Lunar New Year 2025: The Year of the Snake

The 2025 Lunar New Year begins on the next new moon, January 29th, celebrating the Year of the Snake, which, according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, is “associated with good luck, prosperity, fertility and longevity.”  

On January 25th at the Shadle Park Library, there is a Lunar New Year Celebration where you can experience Filipino culture through both music and dance. The event is followed by a Filipino Fashion Show and a cooking class on how to make the Filipino dish Lumpia. All three events are free and open to the public in partnership with the Filipino-American Association of the Inland Empire.  

On Saturday, February 1st, Spokane’s United We Stand will host a giant event for Lunar New Year at the Spokane Convention Center. It features live performances, food vendors, cultural exhibits, and an Asian American, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Business EXPO. Doors open at noon and fireworks begin at 7 PM. This is a family-friendly event that welcomes all members of the Spokane community. Spokane’s United We Stand explains on their website the rich history of Lunar New Year in our region, which began festively in 1889 but waned as racism and xenophobia isolated the immigrant communities of Trent Alley

As Spokane’s United We Stand website states, their upcoming celebration “provides healing, a sense of community, and belonging to Spokane’s Asian residents whose contributions have been erased and buried for the last 171 years. It’s not about forgiveness or reconciliation. It’s about memory—the fact that we can finally talk about these people who have always been forgotten in the narrative. We just want to tell the story as it was, because it is also a beautiful story.” 

 And here are more beautiful Lunar New Year stories to celebrate, available in the Spokane Public Library collection: 

For Children

Two New Years by Richard Ho, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield 

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The Tray of Togetherness, written and illustrated by Flo Leung 

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For Young Adults/Teens

Lunar New Year: A  Love Story by Gene Luen Yang, art by Leuyen Pham 

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For Adults

The Good, The Bad, and The Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto 

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Peking Duck and Cover by Vivien Chien 

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Heart Sutra: A Novel by Yan Lianke, translated from the Chinese by Carol Rojas 

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Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung 

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Lunar Love: A Novel by Lauren Kung Jessen  

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