Lunar New Year festival gives Islanders, younger generation a taste of Chinese traditions

Jen Du, her husband and their young daughter moved to Prince Edward Island from China in the early 2000s, and brought many fond memories of their home country with them.

Nearly 18 years later, the couple has two more children who were born in P.E.I., and they had some questions about those memories. 

"They're always wondering how we celebrated our spring festival back in China," Du said. "Today we just tried our very best to give them some idea how we celebrate it."

That idea is the Chinese Society of P.E.I.'s spring festival fair, which was held for its second year on Saturday at the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown. 

The event, held to usher in the Year of the Snake, aimed to recreate some of the atmosphere around Lunar New Year festivities in China. 

There was a dragon dance, traditional performances, food, handmade crafts and bouncy castles for the kids. 

"We wanted to celebrate with all the community here … to celebrate all our diversity. We wanted to make the spring festival like Christmas [is] for family get-togethers," said Candice Chen, program manager with the Chinese Society of P.E.I. 

Chen has lived on the Island for 18 months, and said she also wanted to give her own daughter a taste of what her hometown in China is like. 

"To the kids here [that] were raised here they can, through this event … experience our traditional culture, eat dumplings, celebrate," she said. "I think it's a very great experience to know where they come from."  

Sharing their culture

Organizers said the festival has grown since its inaugural year, both in scale and attendance. Chen said about 2,000 people were expected through the doors. 

Much like with Du's own children, she was happy to share her culture with Islanders after experiencing Canadian traditions for so many years. 

"We celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving, so we really want to share our culture as well," she said. "I'm just so happy to see everybody really wants to learn from each other, to have fun together."