People all over the world celebrate Lunar New Year with special traditions, foods and fireworks, starting Feb. 10 and extending two weeks.

Although it’s popular to call the holiday Chinese New Year, it’s more accurately Lunar New Year because the holiday is observed in Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia, Tibet, Japan and China. Asian Americans with connections to these cultures carry on traditions in the United States as well.

Fresno Christian High School has nine students who identify as Asian American and six who identify as mixed, while 86 students do not identify as a specific race. Fresno is also home to more than 109,382 people who identify as Asian American. Lunar New Year is a chance to learn more about fellow students and enjoy new traditions.

Some families make homemade dumplings, desserts, and other traditional foods. In northern China, dumplings are the food that represents the exchange between the old and the new year. The Chinese word for dumplings 饺子 (jiǎo zi) sounds like the two words 交 (Jiāo) which means “exchange” and 子 (zi) meaning the midnight hour. 

Another tradition is giving red envelopes – also called red pockets – with money. Children and adults look forward to giving and receiving these red envelope gifts. This year is the “Year of the Dragon,” which symbolizes abundance and success for many cultures.

Fresno hosts special events this month like the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival at 10 a.m. Feb. 24 at New Heights Church and Good Shepherd Chinese Church. 

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Gallery • 5 Photos

Giada Gilmore Young

Every family has their own style of folding dumplings. These showcase a wavey taco shape for potstickers.