Chinatown Celebrates Year of the Sheep

At the full moon in March, a two-week long Chinese New Year celebration officially ended with a festival of lanterns. Earlier, at the new moon on Feb. 19, Chinatown welcomed thousands of residents and visitors with a huge parade, fireworks and Night in Chinatown street festival. Behind the scenes, families gathered for traditional meals, and parents gave their children red envelopes of money — an ancient tradition.

Many Chinese clubs and societies throughout the Hawaiian Islands gathered to practice cultural and spiritual traditions. Members of Chinatown’s Lung Doo Benevolent Society all speak a dialect that originates from Lung Doo village in the province of Zhongshan, China. Besides camaraderie and mentoring youth in Honolulu, they also helped build a school for kids in China.