Celebrate Lunar New Year At Quaker Bridge Mall Lawrence Twp.

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — Chinese New Year’s Eve and Chinese New Year 2022 fall on Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 1-2, starting off the year of the tiger with celebrations that include parades, food and other cultural traditions over the next couple of weeks.

Quaker Bridge Mall will be celebrating the Lunar New Year on Feb. 12, from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m, at the Center Court. There will be a traditional Lunar New Year celebration featuring Chinese folk dance, Chinese musical instrument fiddle playing, zither playing, Chinese calligraphy, and Dragon performance.

Chinese New Year is a 15-day festival in China and in Asian communities around the world that falls sometime between Jan. 21-Feb. 20 on Western calendars every year, but simultaneously with the new moon. It’s also called Lunar New Year for that reason — and called Spring Festival because, in China, people receive seven days off work for relaxation.

This year, the celebration begins as the year of the ox draws to a close Monday with the traditional Chinese New Year’s Eve, and ends Feb. 15 with the Lantern Festival.

Staples of these festivals are dragon dances, a ritual in which dancers carry a colorful dragon — a symbol of good fortune in Chinese culture — in a long procession through the streets.