The following photoessay comes from Alejandro Flores, a student at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. Lucy Gellman contributed reporting.
Drums and percussion sang over Whitney Avenue as two lions paced a square of pavement, hundreds of eyes fixed on their every movement. They raised their heads, then lowered themselves close to the ground. One, eyeing a cluster of greens that sat atop a pole, began his ascent, his body lengthening as he reached skyward. Before long, fresh leaves and confetti were raining down over the street.
Saturday, New Haven welcomed the Year of the Fire Horse during the 15th annual LunarFest, a celebration of the Lunar New Year from Yale-China Association and over a dozen community partners. Amidst performances from the Yale Spizzwinks(?), Yale Red Lantern, Yale Wushu and New York's Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Institute Lion Dance Team, the celebration brought out hundreds of attendees, many of whom stayed in the area for a full day of activities.
As in years past, collaborators included the New Haven Museum, New Haven Free Public Library. Yale Peabody Museum, Creative Arts Workshop, Neighborhood Music School, and the Office of International Students & Scholars at Yale (OISS), as well as dozens of sponsors. In addition to the Lion Dance that graces Whitney Avenue, the parade saw remarks from Yale-China President John Frisbie, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, and Alders Christine Kim and Caroline Tanbee Smith, the first of whom was just recently elected, and by Saturday was helping make plans for Monday's blizzard.
"I am so honored to stand here today as a Korean, an Asian-American, and most important of all, a New Havener," Kim said of LunarFest in a follow-up email Monday. "This event is of particular meaning to me this year. I first came to New Haven as a student at Yale, and then as a resident, a mother of two kids born and raised in New Haven, co-founder of aapiNHV, and now Alder-Elect of this great Ward, Ward 7. New Haven is an amazing city that is welcoming of people from all around the world to celebrate and lift up each other."
She noted that while the celebration is sometimes billed as a Chinese New Year event, LunarFest is a nod to the breadth of a diaspora, including celebrations in Korea, Vietnam, and Tibet. She urged attendees to support some of the small, immigrant-owned business that make New Haven into the vibrant, diverse and polyphonic city that it is,
"Many immigrants, like my parents, start off as owners of small businesses, so I am asking to support them. My love language is food, so I really hope you can try some of the delicious food beyond apizza that our City offers!" she said before adding a celebratory "'Xīnnián kuàilè! 'Chúc mừng năm mới! [and] Sehae Bok Manhee Badeu Seyo!"
Smith had summoned that same enthusiasm when she spoke Saturday. Thinking aloud of her umma—her mom, Sung Hee Kim—she noted how proud and excited she was to be at the festival, which she's attended for years. On days like Saturday, she thinks about her mom's own migration journey, and the life she sought to provide for her family-to-be. Years later, Smith is proof positive of that dream: she is a champion of her community, from her work in early childhood education to her role on the city's Board of Alders.
"My umma came to the United States from South Korea because of a promise: That her future daughters would be raised in a country that brings people together across languages, across the dinner table, across moments of celebration and adversity. And sees us not as separate, but as one community."
"Thank you to Yale-China, LunarFest, and each of you for being that promise," she continued. "And for bringing us together to fill our streets at the heart of our city with the spirit of renewal, unshakeable joy, and dance and song. Today, I am so proud to be a New Havener. I am so proud to be Asian American. And I am so proud to celebrate who we are and the New Year together!"