Family members and strangers alike join each other at their assigned seats, gathering from as close as down the street to as far as north of Vancouver Island. Around 50 volunteers helped decorate the event prior to their patrons arrival. They continue to fill waters and clear tables until the night closes, and it’s time to clean up.

In 1982, the Nanaimo Chinese Cultural Society (NCCS) was established by Suzanne and Marc Ma as a way of preserving and celebrating their community. Members of the NCCS teach mahjong to seniors, organize Chinese language lessons for children, or take on local restoration projects. These contributions are quieter, but the event that wins headlines in magazines, or student newspapers, is their annual Lunar New Year Gala.

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2026 welcomes the Year of the Horse, the seventh symbol in the Chinese zodiac. The Horse symbolizes vitality, independence, and perseverance.

I ask my aunt for ‘must-do’s’ before or during the Lunar New Year. She gives me a list:

● A thorough cleaning of the house to get rid of any bad luck

● Don’t sweep or throw out garbage on NY day as I don’t want to sweep or throw away any good luck

● Try not to have arguments, curse, say negative words or talk about death so as not to invite bad luck

● Don’t wash my hair on NY day either so as not to wash away good luck

The majority of Lunar New Year traditions are connected to different gods—the Kitchen God, who protects the household (and of whom you mustn’t offend by raising dust on the first day of the New Year); the God of Wealth, who is celebrated (or lured) by fireworks to bring prosperity; or the God of Blazing Wrath, who brings bad luck to whoever encounters him (making the third day an inadvisable one to have company).

Although customs differ from region, family, or time, the overarching intent is to bring good luck and prosperity.

“There’s a great history of Chinese culture in Nanaimo,” Jerry Hong says, the current President of the Nanaimo Chinese Cultural Society.

Hong is a successful business owner of several spots in town, and he was an elected Councillor for the City of Nanaimo in 2014. During his time as a municipal elected official, he abstained from involvement in external organizations. Once his term ended in 2018, he returned to the NCCS, determined.

According to the 2021 Census Profile, the Chinese are the second largest visible minority population in Nanaimo.

Nanaimo was founded in the early 1850s, and the first Chinatown was built 10 years later by Victoria Crescent. In 1884, it was pushed outside of city limits to Needham Street. The third formed near Pine Street following land disputes, and the fourth was an extension of the third; it became known as “new Chinatown,” while the former was called “lower Chinatown.”

Though the once bustling Chinese population dwindled following the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1923 and the fire on September 30, 1960 (that razed the last Chinatown to the ground), the people and culture remain strong in Nanaimo.

“I have young children and I want them to participate and understand the culture as well,” Hong says. In his own youth, he did the lion dance while his sisters did fan dancing.

The origin of lion dance dates back thousands of years, all the way back to the Han Dynasty. Each lion is performed in pairs, one to operate the head and one to operate the tail. Routines might include complications such as hopping between nearly three metre tall poles, or interactions with the crowd—“eating” a spectator’s head. The lion dance scares away evil spirits, instead bringing good fortune and prosperity for everyone.

Chinese fan dancing is thought to have originated in the same time period as the lion dance. Associated with beauty and grace, the fans act as an extension of the dancers themselves, moving fluidly as though there is no difference between prop and limb. Fan dancing is commonly both a method of self-expression and storytelling.

For the most part, the celebrated traditions during the annual Lunar New Year gala remain the same. It is a family event, and togetherness is a mainstay. By extension, so is food.

Longevity noodles represent long life; each noodle should be eaten unbroken. Tangyuan, glutinous rice balls, are associated with harmony because of its round shape and the similarity in sound to the word tuanyuan, meaning reunion. Mandarin oranges symbolize good fortune. They are exchanged as an act of well-wishing, or left around the house or in spare pockets for luck—the more leaves on the stem, the better.

Although Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year are often used interchangeably, Lunar New Year is celebrated across Asia, notably Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. It is not an exclusive occasion.

“We consider [everyone who comes] a part of our family … celebrating New Year’s with us,” Hong says. The NCCS are sometimes partners of 7 Potatoes, also known as

the Central Vancouver Island Japanese Canadian Society.

The NCCS, Hong notes, supports exchange students and recent immigrants who might be experiencing a language barrier or culture shock. There are other local or national organizations that will assist with the technical side of that journey, but the NCCS focuses on community engagement and the sharing of Chinese culture and traditions to the Western world.

As he puts it, “We try to be the bridge between the two different cultures.”

“Our first year we had about 4000 people, but the last year we had over 10,000,” Hong says. Unlike the Lunar New Year celebrations, the Mid-Autumn Festival was hosted outside at Maffeo Sutton Park. Alongside dance and music performances, there were food trucks, calligraphy, lanterns, and then fireworks to end the night. There were over a hundred volunteers to keep the event running smoothly.

This year, the Lunar New Year Gala continues business as usual on February 14, 2026. Hong says there is an interest in potentially moving it from Beban Park Social Centre to Downtown Nanaimo. The celebrations hosted at Beban are grand, which also makes them expensive. That’s something that not all families can afford.

If it were to be moved Downtown, there would be accessible activities outdoors (and indoors, in collaboration with local businesses). There would still be a dinner, but it could be a separate ticketed event happening concurrently, allowing more people to enjoy more festivities. That’s all hypothetical, for now, but the goal is clear: to share Chinese culture, and to one day, lessen the cost.