Precious Blood Catholic church hosted a Lunar New Year festival Jan. 28 and organizers say it was a resounding success.
Mable Ho, one of the event coordinators, said the festival was well attended with more than 800 people visiting the church hall for the four-hour event.
“Everyone was enthusiastic about this multicultural celebration in the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit,” said Ho. “It accomplished its mission of bringing people of different ethnic groups together.”
The festival was called “Celebrating Love & Harmony in the Year of the Rabbit.” The focus of the event was to celebrate the Lunar New Year, bring people together, and also to raise funds for the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s “Healing and Reconciliation Fund.”
Ho said the celebration kicked off with a Chinese lion dance at 11:30 a.m. The lion dance is said to bring good luck and drive away evil spirits.
SEE ALSO: Cloverdale’s Precious Blood Church to host Lunar New Year festival
“(There were) performances of different ethnic dances, namely the Polynesian dance, the Metis dance, the Nigerian dance, and the Chinese traditional dance,” added Ho. “There were also Chinese martial arts and children’s choir and many more performances.”
The money raised at Precious Blood’s Lunar New Year festival will be donated to the “Healing and Reconciliation Fund.” The fund was set up to offer grants to “Indigenous led projects that contribute to healing, education and the steps needed for true reconciliation,” according to a webpage on rcav.org.
Ho said the parish will likely host another celebration next year when the Year of the Dragon is ushered in.
“We have the intention to carry on bringing joy and fun to the community,” she said. “But then it will depend on the pandemic situation and the organization of the volunteers committee.”
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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