Chinese New Year falls on 12th February this year, and it is the year of the Ox. Starting 12th February till 21st February, Sydney kicks off its Lunar Festival celebration. There is an awesome Lunar Lantern display walk from Circular Quay to Haymarket in Sydney. The lanterns are lit up at dusk, so if your children can stay up late for it, I recommended that you do the walk in the evening. Pop into the Rocks market for free calligraphy making, free Mahjong and Chinese Zodiac readings, from 11am -2pm at The Rocks Square. There is a Lunar Spectacular program held on 13 February at Sydney Town Hall, ticket bookings will open on 4th February 2021. Mark your calendar! Limited tickets are available, and covid restrictions apply.  

All details of the Lunar Festival are listed here on What’s On Sydney. Download the Sydney Cultural Walk app for the guided walk. 

At the Chinese Garden of Friendship, there are kids’ craft, red packets (chocolate gold coins, not real money!), tea ceremony, lion dances and more. Events are held on weekends of 13^th/14^th and 20^th/21^st.

The Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club is hosting a one night only Lunar New Year celebration dinner, with a lion dance performance, and a Chinese violinist performance. 

Some other ways we are learning about Chinese New Year is to watch videos and read books (Click here for a list of our favourite books on the topic) about the origins of the Chinese New Year myths and legends. Unfortunately, we left it too late this year to get some new Chinese New Year books in Chinese, maybe next year I can add some Chinese books to the list. 

Keep scrolling for our favourite Chinese New Year videos. We are learning to sing 新年好! We are truly wishing for a good year ahead, after the disastrous year that was 2020.

Surprisingly, the children have been learning very interested in the Chinese Zodiac this year! I’m so glad that they are all showing a genuine interest in Chinese festivals. This year, i have created a few teaching materials about the Chinese Zodiac to help them learn more about it.