Tulsa’s first Lunar New Year festival is uniting cultures in the 'Year of the Snake'

Tulsa is celebrating its first-ever Lunar New Year festival this month. The Asian Affairs Committee and the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency and Equity have paired up to showcase Tulsa’s diverse Asian community. Athan Lau, a volunteer at the Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Equity, is making sure Tulsa celebrates the ‘Year of The Snake” in a brand new way.

What is the Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated in many Asian cultures that marks the beginning of the new year based on the lunar calendar. Unlike the Gregorian New Year which is celebrated on Jan. 1, Lunar New Year typically falls between late Jan. and mid-Feb.

Who celebrates the Lunar New Year?

Though most commonly associated with Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year is also celebrated in Vietnamese (Têt), Korean (Seollal), and other Asian traditions. The holiday is filled with cultural customs like family reunions, feasts, dragon and lion dances, and giving red envelopes for good luck.

Why is the year the “Year of The Snake”?

Each year is tied to one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac–2025 is the year of the snake. Last year was the year of the dragon and next year will be the year of the horse.

Why Tulsa and why now?

Athan Lau says that, since 2010, Tulsa’s Asian population has grown, but he wants representation to grow with it. “When people think of Asians, they think about the typical Chinese person but there’s more Asian communities,” Lau said.

According to Lau, many of the Asian communities in Tulsa didn’t interact with each other. His goal this year is to build a tradition that can be shared across many cultures. “We want to build bridges between each other and really share that culture, because if anything, we are more similar than we are different,” Lau said.