Wintringham’s fast-growing, diverse community recently came together to celebrate the Lunar New Year with Chinese music, traditional craft activities including calligraphy, 3D jigsaws and origami, dragon dress up and dancing, horoscope readings and lantern painting.
15 February 2024
The festival is one of the most important and widely celebrated in Chinese culture and is a time for family reunions and cultural festivities.
The Lunar New Year event, which was held on 10 February, saw the main hall of Wintringham Primary Academy decorated in red – the colour associated with good luck and happiness – with lanterns and elaborate decorations adorning the room to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.
On arrival, attendees were met with a traditional welcome and given an orange and a red envelope (Hongbao), which is customary as a gesture of goodwill and blessings. Volunteers were on hand with a selection of drinks and a tempting menu of Asian cuisine was available on the plaza.
Members of the Wintringham Residents’ Association and the Chinese community, supported by Christine Littlewood, master developer Urban&Civic’s Community Development Lead for Wintringham, saw the event evolve over nine months: from a chance conversation, to setting up a “Team Lunar New Year” WhatsApp group, a growing and enthusiastic group of volunteers helped create a fantastic event that everyone enjoyed.
Christine Littlewood said: “It’s been incredible working so closely with residents to support them in putting this event on; learning about such a rich culture and sharing it with the wider Wintringham community. It was brilliant to see how many volunteers wanted to take part and share their ideas as well as the skills to make this a true celebration of a vibrant cultural history, and the start of a new tradition for Wintringham.
“It is safe to say, this event will be firmly on next year’s calendar, with ambitious plans already being discussed by the growing organising committee!”
