Attending the Celebrations for Lunar New Year 2025
On Saturday, February 1, 2025, I attended the celebrations for Lunar New Year at Steele Indian School Park near downtown Phoenix, AZ. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend Lunar New Year for 2024. I cannot remember what I was doing at the time, but I am sure that I was busy doing, well, something. As a result, I was determined to attend the celebration for Lunar New Year this year. No matter what.
Some Background
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| Cover of Phoenix Chinese Week program. |
According to the website, the idea for celebrating Phoenix Chinese Week originated in 1989. An administrator at Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Clarence Teng, came up with the idea of Phoenix Chinese Week. He also happened to be a member of the Phoenix Sister Cities Commission. With the assistance of the Chinese United Association of Greater Phoenix and the Chinese Restaurant Association of Arizona, Mr Teng was able to organize Phoenix Chinese Week, which was held at Patriots Park in downtown Phoenix in 1991. After several years, Phoenix Chinese Week then moved to the old Cofco Chinese Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix before relocating to Steele Indian School Park. Phoenix Chinese Week has been held annually ever since.
Interestingly, two of Phoenix's Sister Cities are Chengdu, Sichuan, China and Taipei, Taiwan. Phoenix became a Sister City to Chengdu in 1987. Phoenix had been a Sister City to Taipei since 1979. Now, I know why I saw booths for both Chengu and Taipei at Phoenix Chinese Week. On a side note, Phoenix being the sister city of Taipei would also probably explain the sizable presence of TSMC in northern Phoenix, but I digress.
Taking the Light Rail
As I mentioned previously, the location for Lunar New Year (aka Phoenix Chinese Week) is Steele Indian School Park near the intersection of North Central Avenue and East Indian School Road. It just so happens that Steele Indian School Park is right next to the Carl T. Hayden Veterans' Administration Medical Center, a place that I have come to know rather well. Since parking is limited at Steele Indian School Park, the organizers for Phoenix Chinese Week were encouraging visitors to either park your car at a nearby parking garage and walk to the park or use Phoenix's much-maligned light-rail, known as Valley Metro, to get to Steele Indian School Park.
Since I never seem to do things the easy way, I decided to use the light-rail to Steele Indian School Park. Since I had recently bought a new Samsung S24 cellphone, I downloaded the Valley Metro app onto my cellphone. From there, it was a simple matter to preload money into the Valley Metro app. So far, so good.
Why is Valley Metro much maligned? That's a simple question that requires a complex answer, I suppose. Like many western U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles, Phoenix is dominated by the automobile. It's the primary mode of transportation not just in Phoenix but in the rest of Maricopa County. For a metropolitan area of its size and population, it really is a surprise that Phoenix doesn't have a subway. Back in the early 1990s, I remember reading in the Arizona Republic newspaper there was a proposal to start building a subway system in Phoenix. Unfortunately, the proposal was turned down. Why the proposal was turned down, I don't remember. However, there is a segment of the population in Maricopa County that views mass transit as unnecessary and undesirable. Attitudes do eventually change. For example, Los Angeles now has a functioning subway. Plus, Phoenix really is a dysfunctional city, but that's for another post.
According to the Valley Metro website, Valley Metro Rail, Inc. was founded in 2002 to provide a light rail system for Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler, and Mesa. The light rail system has a total length of 66 miles. As of this writing, Valley Metro Rail operates only one light rail line. However, you can ride the light rail from the old Metro Center Mall (at Peoria Ave and I-17) all the way down to downtown Mesa. Apparently, more lines are under consideration for the light rail.
For my visit to the Lunar New Year celebration, I drove down Grand Avenue/Highway 60 and made the turnoff for Camelback Road. From there, I parked my car at the 19th Ave and Camelback Park and Ride. Before using the light rail service, I highly recommend that you download the Valley Metro app onto your cellphone. Once you do that, it's an easy process to add money to the app. On the Valley Metro app, I selected the 19th Ave and Camelback Park and Ride as my origin point and the Indian School/Central Ave station as my destination. The fare for my trip was $2.00. The Valley Metro app also generated a QR code. Once I crossed the street and arrived at the light rail station at 19th Avenue and Camelback Road, I scanned my QR code. Success. I was good to go. After a short wait of 5-10 minutes, the light rail appeared at the station.
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| 19th Avenue & Camelback Road Park & Ride |
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| Plenty of parking available. |
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| Crossing the street. |
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| Walking to the light rail platform. |
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| Valley Metro light rail ticket machine. |
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| 19th Ave/Camelback station. |
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| Waiting for the train. |
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| Here comes the light rail. |
The passengers in the light rail car were an interesting bunch. It was like Lou Reed's remarkable song "Street Hassle" had come to life. There were people either going to work or had just left work. There were haggard, rough-looking, and possibly homeless, people. There were a few "average" looking people. There were people that looked like gangsters. It was quite a cross-section of people. Then there was me. However, I didn't feel particularly threatened. Also inside the light rail car were a couple of Transit Police officers that were walking through each light rail car.
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| Passengers inside the light rail car 1. |
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Passengers inside the light rail car 2.
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The ride on the light rail was quite smooth as it traveled east along Camelback Road and then headed south on Central Avenue. Before I knew it, the light rail had arrived at my stop at Central Avenue and Indian School Road. To my surprise, there were quite a few people exiting the light rail car with me.
On the Way to Lunar New Year
Like every Valley Metro light rail stops that I have seen, the Valley Metro light rail stop IVO the intersection of Indian School Road and Central Avenue is located right between the south bound and north bound lanes. The light rail station is essentially an island in the middle of the street. After walking down the platform, people waited to cross Indian School Road. Once the traffic light changed to green, people crossed the street. After a short walk north along Central Avenue, everyone crossed Farrington Drive. Everyone the followed along Farrington Drive into Steele Indian School Park. Once I reached the Ampitheater, I could see the Lunar New Year Festival on the other side of Steele Indian School Pond. As I walked toward the Lunar New Year Festival, I knew that it would be the kind of day where I would greatly exceed my daily goal for steps on my Samsung 7 watch.
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| Waiting to cross the street 1. |
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Waiting to cross the street 2.
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| Officially entering Steele Indian School Park. |
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| Walking into the park. |
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| Looking at the Lunar New Year Festival from across the pond. |
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| Almost at the festival. |
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| Location of Lunar New Year at Steele Indian School Park |
The organizers of the Lunar New Festival provided a festival map on their website for festival goers. In the center of the festival map, the Dragon Stage was designed as the main performance stage. To the east and the west of the Dragon Stage were the West and East Food Courts. South of the Dragon Stage was the area allocated for all of the Lunar New Year Merchandise and Non-Food Vendors. Away to the southwest from the Dragon Stage was the Phoenix Stage, the alternate performance stage. Other attractions at the Lunar New Year Festival included the Tea Garden, located south of the East Food Court. South of all of the Merchandise and Non-Food Vendors were the Info Booth and the Dragon Boat. Somehow, I never made it over to either the Festival Gate or the Beer Garden.
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| Lunar New Year 2025 Festival Map |
Phoenix Stage
After passing by the Steele Indian School Pond, the first area of the Lunar New Year Festival that I visited was the Phoenix Stage. As I mentioned earlier, the Phoenix Stage was designated as the alternate stage to the main stage, known as the Dragon Stage. As I walked by, there was a tai chi demonstration being given.
Tai chi is the common English spelling for taijiquan. The Chinese characters for taijiquan are 太極拳. The first two characters, 太極, pronounced as "taiji", is derived from Chinese philosophy and refers to the interplay of Yin and Yang. The third character, 拳, pronounced as "quan", translates as fist.
The Phoenix Chinese Week program describes 太極拳 as thus:
Taiji is an ancient Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, taiji is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners perform a series of deliberate, flowing motions while focusing on deep, slow breaths. Often referred to as "meditation in motion", taiji aims to concentrate and balance the body's qi (vital energy), providing benefits to mental and physical health.
Furthermore, there are five major styles of taiji. The most popular style of taiji is the Yang style (楊氏), invented by Yang Luchan (杨露禅) in the first half of the 19th century.
Taiji was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2020 for China.
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| Tai-Chi Demonstration |
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Tai-Chi Demonstration 2
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After the taiji demonstration ended, the stage was cleared for the next demonstration. For me, it was time to move on to the next area.
West Food Court
The next area of the Lunar New Year Festival that I visited was the West Food Court.
The West Food Court was a hodgepodge of various Asian cuisines. Yes, there were vendors that offered Chinese/Taiwanese food if that is what you wanted. On the other hand, if you didn't want Chinese food to celebrate Lunar New Year with, then you were spoiled for choice. You could choose from Japanese food, Korean food, Thai food, or even Philipine food. When you mix up or combine various Asian cuisines, the term pan-Asian is usually used. For those who do not know, Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries throughout Asia in addition to China. Thus, it just makes sense to have other cuisines available in addition to Chinese cuisine.
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| West Food Court Map |
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| Did someone say Korean hot dogs? |
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Filipino Roast Pig (Lechon) close-up.
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| Chi Sparkling Water |
As I wandered through the West Food Court, it was difficult to make a choice on what cuisine to order. Everything looked and smelled really good. There was a long line for La Mai Thai Cuisine. There was an even longer line for the roast pig from PHX Lechon Roasters. Boy, did that look and smell really good. The "Taiwanese style fried chicken" from Herculean Chicken was also tempting. I was also considering ordering some of the Chinese food as well.
Ultimately, I choose Korean food. After living in Seoul, South Korea, for four and a half years while in the U.S. Army, I can safely say that Korean food is without a doubt my favorite Asian cuisine. Japanese food would probably be second. Then, there would be Chinese food. Heck, all of the cuisines had something to recommend it. At first, I was going to order a Korean hot dog from
Myungrang Hotdog as it had been a long time since I have eaten a Korean-style hot dog. Then, out of the blue, I suddenly noticed that
Let's Toast had a tiny stand. It was hidden between two other food vendors. I've had the bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich from Let's Toast at a Saturday night market in Glendale, AZ back in October 2024. It was really, really good. The owner was originally from Seoul and quite friendly to talk to (as she was busy making sandwiches). Unfortunately, the owner of Let's Toast wasn't at Lunar New Year. Still, the bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich with an egg sunny side up made by an employee was still superb. The Grape Delight sparkling water by
Chi Forest complemented the bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich rather well. While trying not to make a mess as I ate my bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich, I walked over to the Dragon Stage.
Dragon Stage
The organizers of Phoenix Chinese Week designated the Dragon Stage as the main event stage for Lunar New Year. The opening ceremony for the Lunar New Year had already occurred by the time I had gotten to Steele Indian School Park, so I had missed that. However, I did get to see several minutes of yo-yo tricks as I finished my bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich. After the yo-yo demonstration had ended, the traditional cultural performances began to start.
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| Yo-yo demonstration on the Dragon Stage. |
The first performance I remember watching were four musicians performing traditional Chinese music with traditional instruments. One of the musicians was playing a
yangqin, also known as a hammered dulcimer. The other three musicians seemed to be playing either an
erhu or a
huqin, a type of two-stringed Chinese violin or fiddle. It was interesting music to listen to. I would describe the music performed as minimalist traditional music.
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| Musicians playing traditional Chinese musical instruments. |
The second performance consisted of traditional Chinese singing and dancing. The announcer may have indicated which regions of China the songs and dances originate from, but I don't remember.
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| Traditional Chinese singing and dancing 1. |
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Traditional Chinese singing and dancing 2.
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The third performance consisted of an actor performing what is known as the
Face-Changing dance. In Chinese, the Face-Changing dance is known as
bian lian (变脸). The Face-Changing dance has its origin in traditional
Sichuan opera. (Note: Phoenix's Sister City of Chengdu is capital city of Sichuan Province.) Here is how
Wikipedia describes the Face-Changing dance:
Performers wear brightly colored costumes and move to quick, dramatic music. They also wear vividly colored masks,
typically depicting well known characters from the opera, which they
change from one face to another almost instantaneously with the swipe of
a fan, a movement of the head, or wave of the hand.
With some musical accompaniment, the actor proceeded to quickly change his mask at least seven times during his performance. The mask changes were timed to appear natural and unexpected.
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| Face-Changing Dance Mask #1 |
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Face-Changing Dance Mask #2
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Face-Changing Dance Mask #3
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Face-Changing Dance Mask #4
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Face-Changing Dance Mask #5
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Face-Changing Dance Mask #6
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Face-Changing Dance Mask #7
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The fourth performance consisted of two costumed performers performing the ever-popular Lion Dance. All I can say is that the Lion Dance requires a lot of coordination and A LOT of practice.
The Lion Dance is a traditional Chinese dance that is performed on special occasions, such as Lunar New Year. In Chinese culture, the lion is the personification of power, wisdom, and strength. The purpose of the Lion Dance is to chase away evil spirits and bring good fortune to people in the new year. The Lion Dance is performed by two dancers. The dancer in the front controls the lion's head and the front legs, while the dancer in the rear forms the lion's back and controls the rear legs. Traditionally, the music for the Lion Dance consists of beating drums and crashing cymbals and gongs.
The history of the Lion Dance goes as far back as the Three Kingdoms Era (220-280 AD) in Chinese history. There are two Lion Dance styles. The Southern Lion Dance Style originated in the Guangdong (Canton) region of southern China. The Northern Lion Dance Style seems to have originated in the Beijing area. The Southern Lion Dance Style places a greater emphasis on trying to replicate a lion's movements. In contrast, the Northern Lion Dance Style tend to be more acrobatic, incorporating jumping, climbing, and rolling.
Interestingly, the most popular Lion Dance style is the Southern Lion Dance Style. This style is the one most often performed outside of China.
The color green in Chinese culture symbolizes the hope for a great harvest.
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| Dragon Dance 1. |
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Dragon Dance 2.
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| Dragon Dance 3. |
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Dragon Dance 4.
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Dragon Dance 5.
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Dragon Dance 6.
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Unfortunately, I did not get to the see the Dragon Dance performance at the Dragon Stage. The Dragon Dance may have been performed during the opening ceremony for Lunar New Year. In Chinese culture, dragons are believed to bring good luck to the people. Like the Lion Dance, the Dragon Dance is performed to drive away evil spirits and bring prosperity to the new year. While I did not get to the see the Dragon Dance performed, I did manage to take a couple of photos of the dragon itself.
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| Close-up of the dragon's head. |
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| Dragon costume for the Dragon Dance. |
The color of the dragon for Lunar New Year was blue. In Chinese culture, blue symbolizes immortality, advancement, trust, and spring.
East Food Court
After watching several performances over at the Dragon Stage, I walked around the East Food Court. If I had not already eaten my bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich from Let's Toast at the West Food Court, then I probably would have gotten an order of the Bulgogi Fries from the Bonzai Boyz Food Truck (see photo below). The spam musubi from Hot Bamboo also looked good. With several vendors offering ice cream, shaved ice, and macaroons, there definitely seemed to be a dessert theme to the vendors. Like the West Food Court, there were a couple of vendors selling bubble tea.
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| East Food Court Map |
Tea Garden
Unfortunately, I didn't spend too much time at the
Tea Garden. The idea behind the booth was to give people an idea of the importance of tea to Chinese culture. After all, tea is the national drink of China. It is said that tea was accidentally invented during the reign of Emperor Shennong over 5,000 years ago. The story goes that some servants were boiling water for drinking when the dried leaves of a nearby plant accidentally landed into the pot, turning the water into a brown color. Curious about the brown-colored water, Emperor Shennong drank some of the water and enjoyed the result. From there, the popularity of tea rapidly spread across Ancient China. It's a good
story, but I cannot tell you if the story is true or not.
What is true, however, is that over time, an entire industry developed around tea in Ancient China, including the classification of the different types of tea. Moreover, an elaborate ceremony was developed for the preparation and consuming of tea that had an enormous cultural impact on China. Eventually, everything related to tea was exported to China's neighboring countries, especially to Korea and Japan.
According to the Phoenix Chinese Week program, the Tea Garden was to provide the public with demonstrations on the tea ceremony and on the etiquette of drinking tea. Apparently, there was also a short presentation about the use of tea in traditional Chinese medicine. The demonstrators for the Tea Garden are members of the
Phoenix Tea Gallery. Based on the information that I read from their website, they definitely are the experts on tea and the tea ceremony.
As I write this post, I was probably a little too short-sighted in not spending more time learning about tea at the Tea Garden as tea is a fascinating subject. I didn't give much thought about tea until I had read James Clavell's novel Shogun (1975) when I lived in Seoul, South Korea. I believe that I did attend a demonstration of the Korean version of the tea ceremony in Seoul.
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| Tea Ceremony Demonstration |
Merchandise and Non-Food Vendors
While I didn't spend a whole lot of time at the Tea Garden, I did spend a large chunk of time just wandering around the area reserved for the Merchandise and Non-Food Vendors. Apart from the Dragon Stage, the Merchandise and Non-Food Vendors was probably the largest area at the Lunar New Year Festival. This area had just about everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. Purists may retreat in horror from the souvenir vendors, but this is how culture becomes tactile to the general public. Oddly, I didn't buy any souvenirs. That's probably because I have a couple of boxes of souvenirs that I bought when I lived in South Korea for four years. I also have some souvenirs from my three trips to Japan.
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| Entering the merchandise and non-food vendor area. |
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| Wandering around the merchandise and non-food vendor area. |
Now that you know that the Lion Dance is about expelling evil spirits and bringing good luck for the new year, why not purchase a replica dancing lion head for your home?
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Small dancing lion heads.
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I believe these little gold colored plastic bags contained good luck charms that you could attach to your cellphone.
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| Trinkets for your cellphone. |
This vendor sold some pretty amazing 3-D pop-up paper art that was cut by hand. She also sold some really nice folding fans.
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| Close-up of 3-D pop-up paper art. |
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Vendor selling 3-D pop-up paper art.
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This vendor sold various painted butterflies, dragonflies, phoenixes, and turtles. These were talismans to assist you in keeping your life in balance and to be a reminder on obtaining your goals.
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| Painted butterflies, dragonflies, phoenixes, and turtles. |
These coins are known as cash coins, or fortune coins. Cash coins are believed to be able to attract wealth and prosperity as well as ward off evil spirits. Each coin has a square at the center, so that you can string together all of your coins with a length of rope or string. Pretty clever. Of course, the color red is associated with Lunar New Year. The color red symbolizes prosperity and energy for the new year.
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| Fortune coins for Lunar New Year 1. |
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Fortune coins for Lunar New Year 2.
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I suppose it wouldn't be Lunar New Year without a vendor selling plush dolls of everyone's favorite characters from
anime, or what used to be called
Japanimation. The international popularity of anime is such that countries like Vietnam, South Korea and mainland China are now producing their own anime TV series and movies. Anime characters are enormously popular, especially with children.
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| Anime-inspired plush dolls. |
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Wandering around near the Dragon Stage.
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While walking through the Merchandise and Non-Food Vendors, I came across the booth that was attempting to teach people how to play
mahjong. While superficially similar to dominoes, due to the use of tiles, mahjong is apparently quite similar in many ways to the card game rummy yet being uniquely Chinese. This
article from Wikipedia gives a good introduction about what mahjong is and how to play it.
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| Let's learn how to really play mahjong. |
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| People playing mahjong. |
In addition to Mahjong, there was a booth for giving people a taste of the game called
Weiqi (圍棋), which translates as "encirclement board game". Never heard of
Weiqi? Perhaps you are more familiar with the game's Japanese name, which is
Go or
Igo (囲碁). In Korea, the game is known as
Baduk (바둑). Using a 19x19 grid board and a collection of white and black stones, the goal of
Weiqi is to capture or encircle more territory with your stones than your opponent is able to. Sounds simple, right? Well, let's just say that W
eiqi/
Go/B
aduk is
A LOT harder than it looks. While the idea behind
Go is rather simple,
Go can get quite complex. I know, I speak from personal experience. I have read several books about
Go. I even bought a computer program to help me improve as a
Go player. I even own a copy of the famous novel about
Go,
The Master of Go by Japanese writer
Yasunari Kawabata. I have also read several volumes of the famous manga about
Go,
Hikaru no Go by
Yumi Hotta and
Takeshi Obata.
The history of Weiqi is ancient, going back as far as the 4th century BCE. It is said that Emperor Yao created Weiqi as a method to teach his unruly son and heir both patience and strategy. From there, the game became enormously popular among China's ruling elite. Weiqi became associated with self-cultivation, wisdom, and gentlemanly ideals. Eventually, the game was exported to Korea and then to Japan. The reason why the game is referred to as Go instead of Weiqi is that the Japanese did a lot of work to organize and structure the way the game is played today. There are professional leagues for the playing of Go. Professional games and tournaments of Go are broadcast live on TV. Indeed, Weiqi/Go/Baduk can be an obsession once you start playing the game. Like its western counterpart chess, Go has its share of both famous games and famous players.
Players from the
Arizona Go Club were playing demonstration games for anyone that was interested trying to play a game of
Go on a board with a 9x9 grid. Typically, when you play a game of
Go with 9x9 grid board, the game can take several minutes to complete. However, a game of
Go played on a full 19x19 grid board can take up to several hours to complete. There are many famous games of
Go that have taken several days to complete. When I moved back to Arizona from Maryland, I thought about attending a meeting of the Arizona Go Club. Unfortunately, the Arizona Go Club is located near the main campus for Arizona State University down in Tempe, AZ. It's a long drive from where I live to get my ass kicked. Still, I am very interested about learning how to play
Go/Weiqi/Baduk.
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| People trying to play Go/Baduk/Weiqi. |
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| Playing Go on a 9x9 board. |
The
cheongsam dress is a body-hugging dress worn by Chinese women. The
cheongsam dress was originally developed sometime in the 1910s to 1920s during the Chinese Republican period. The
cheongsam dress became particularly popular with Chinese women in Shanghai's high society in the 1920s and 1930s. The
cheongsam was worn by various celebrities, socialites, and wives of politicians. Naturally, the
cheongsam dress was made of silk. After the Communist Revolution in the late 1940s, the
cheongsam was perceived as
bourgeois and inegalitarian by the Chinese Communist Party. Outside China, however, wearing the cheongsam remained popular among women in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. After China instituted its economic reforms in the early 1980s following the death of Mao Zedong, the cheongsam once again became fashionable to wear in mainland China.
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| Blue cheongsam dress. |
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| Various souvenirs and trinkets. |
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| I have no idea what they were doing. |
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| Backgrounds for photos while wearing traditional costumes. |
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| More souvenirs and trinkets. |
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| Still more souvenirs and trinkets. |
There was even a bonsai tree vendor at the Lunar New Year festival. Bonsai trees are always fascinating to look at and calm the mind.
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| Bonsai trees. |
Here is a good
primer from the
China Highlights website about bonsai trees:
Chinese Bonsai is the art of designing a miniature tree in a shallow pot or container. Bonsai (which translates to 'tree in a pot') is also known as 'pun-sai' and 'penjing' (the word 'Pen' means container or pot and the word 'jing' means scenery). Chinese Bonsai, inspired by nature, originated in China around 1300 years ago. Originally Bonsai was practiced only by the elite of ancient China. The miniatures trees were considered a luxury and were given as gifts. Around 1100 AD Buddhist monks brought the Bonsai to Japan and the art was adopted by the Japanese. It was not until the early 1900's that Bonsai spread to the rest of the world.
Bonsai is often viewed as an object for meditation. The designing of the Bonsai tree is contemplative, a Zen practice. Chinese style meditation encourages liberation of the mind, encouraging it to flow in its own natural way. Creating Bonsai, arranging rocks in the miniature landscape, clipping and the adding of new elements is a process of active meditation. Something new may be discovered, and having flowed naturally out of the mind it is harmonious and lifts the spirit.
The purpose of Bonsai is not just to re-create nature in a pot, but to actually capture the spirit. The Chinese see the universe as having two sides of cosmic energy; this is called the yin and the yang. In a Bonsai tree, this is depicted through drama, rhythm and balance. Overall unity is important; therefore, many considerations have to be made. These include the type of container, the placement of the Bonsai tree, the species of the tree, the size, shape and color of the tree as well as other details such as the rocks which also have to be chosen just so.
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| Don't know who she was, but she took a nice photo. |
Dragon Boat
The Lunar New Year even had its own dragon boat. Unfortunately, there weren't any dragon boat races at Steele Indian School Park Pond. I guess the pond is too small. However, I have heard that dragon boat races do occur down at Tempe Town Lake in Tempe, AZ. Still, it would be fun to participate in a dragon boat race. However, the Dragon Boat Festival is a separate holiday from Lunar New Year. The Dragon Boat Festival typically occurs during the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
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| Only one dragon boat. |
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| Tail of the dragon boat. |
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| Dragon Boat 1 |
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Dragon Boat 2
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Dragon Boat 3
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| The head of the dragon. |
Year of the Snake
Oh, I forgot to mention something important. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2025 is designated as the Year of the Snake (蛇). According to the Phoenix Chinese Week program, the snake is associated with wisdom, charm, elegance, and transformation. People born in the Year of the Snake are believed to possess qualities of intelligence, intuition, and charm. The Snake is also linked to financial success, making the year a promising time for career changes and personal growth. The Year of the Snake brings unique opportunities and challenges for all.
- Years: 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025
- Characteristics: beautiful, romantic, mysterious, humorous, intuitive, wise
- Suitable Occupations: teacher, scientist, politician
- Compatible: ox, rabbit, rooster
- Opposite: tiger, monkey, pig
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| The Year of the Snake |
The Ride Back
At a little after 5:00 PM, the Lunar New Year celebration began to shut down for the day. Since the opening ceremony for Lunar New Year occurred at 9:00 AM, I suppose that seems to be about right. However, one wonders about the possibilities for celebrating Lunar New Year into the evening hours past sunset. Think of it, the organizers could light lanterns on Steele Indian School Park Pond, there could be recitals of traditional Chinese poetry, or even performances of scenes from famous Sichuan or Beijing operas, for example. However, I understand that the City of Phoenix may have some city ordinances and regulations about what types of activities that can be performed in the park.
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| Taking the light-rail back to 19th Avenue and Camelback Road |
With everything shutting down for the day, I slowly walked back to the light rail station at Central Avenue and Indian School Road. I took a look around Steele Indian School Park. There is a local history there that probably should be further investigated. This was my first time visiting Steele Indian School Park. After I had an appointment at the VA hospital next door, I drove through Steele Indian School Park and saw what appeared to be homeless people hanging out as well as people walking on the trails and attempting to fish in the pond.
After crossing Central Avenue, I briefly thought about visiting the
George and Dragon English Pub as I have always been curious about the place. I took a look at the seating that was available outside along the street and seriously considered going inside. Ultimately, I decided not to visit the George and Dragon English Pub. I decided to return at a later time. The sushi restaurants near the George and Dragon English Pub,
Across the Pond and
Clever Koi, also looked interesting.
Eventually, I walked to the light rail station and bought another ticket using the Valley Metro app. After waiting a couple of minutes, the train going north arrived at the station. I boarded the train. Before I knew it, I was back at my car at the 19th Avenue and Camelback Road Park and Ride.
My day spent celebrating Lunar New Year at Steele Indian School Park was over.
