Written by Alan Wong .

Chinese New Year in Las Vegas before Kickoff of Superbowl 50

Las Vegas’ favorite Chinese and Thai Restaurant, Kung Fu Plaza has two special parties to host this Super Bowl Weekend-February 7, 2016. Patrons, guest, associates, will be ushering in the Chinese New Year in Las Vegas right before the Kickoff of Super Bowl 50 this Sunday. The traditional Lion Dance ceremony will once again be performed by the Lohan School of Shaolin on Super Bowl Sunday at approximately 12:45 pm PT, 3 hours before the kick off. The ceremony will start right in front of the Restaurant. Patrons wishing to be witnesses to the ceremony will be having lunch at the diner prior to the dance. The management will also be providing complimentary red envelopes to the children who wishes to feed the Lion.

The traditional red envelopes or red packets as they are called in Chinese, usually contain money in the form of cash in that nations currency where the festivities are performed. The amount varies from a couple of dollars to several hundreds, for good luck the amount contained should be of an even amount since odd amounts symbolizes death and are only given at funerals. The packets are customarily given by adults to young children during Chinese New Year, it is believed that the money contained inside the packets, acts as a blessing and will wash away any evil spirits.

Chinese New Year in Las Vegas AKA "Lunar New Year"

Chinese New Year celebration in Las Vegas, also known as the Lunar New Year is revered throughout Asia, and the world where people of Chinese ancestral decent reside, as well as with those who believe in Astrology. The celebration was only known and practiced in China up until the 1950’s when the ceremonies started to flourish outside of mainland China. Today the ceremonies and beliefs are predominant in numerous countries, including: Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Canada and of course here in the United States of America. The Lunar calendar is based off of celestial events-the movement and positions of planets moons and stars relative to their alignment with the earth. It is this fact, that explains why the Lunar New Year shifts from one day to another from one year to another, ranging from mid January to mid February in the Georgian Calendar. The celebrations started on February 19, in 2015.

Lion Dance Ceremony in Las Vegas

The purpose of the Lion Dance ceremony is to drive out everything that is evil at the place of the ritual, usually a house, a place of worship, farm or business. Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days in China concluding with the Lantern Festival, the most revered in China. The Lantern which is always red, symbolizes good fortunes leading to prosperity throughout the New Year. Illuminating the Lanterns signifies the release of darkness-or anything gone bad that occurred in the previous year, thereby welcoming a New, Clean, Year, much like an artist starting with a new canvas, or slate. In Ancient times, when the whole world was an agrarian economy, the Lunar New Year was known as the Spring Festival, marking the end of winter or cold days, where nothing can be grown, and the start of Spring, warmer days, the new Harvest.

Chinese New Year Celebrates "Year of the Monkey"

Chinese New Year celebrations in Las Vegas will also be ushering in a new animal sign in the world of Chinese Astrology. This year it is the Monkey’s turn. So any babies born between February 8, 2016 until January 27, 2017, will have the personality, traits and habits mimicking the monkey. The next Lunar New Year falls on January 28, 2017.

People born during the year of the Monkey tend to be; agile and adaptable people, tend to have a good memory, inventing, and good problem solvers, good at mimicking behavior. Want to know if you, or anyone you know were born in the year of a monkey, see the list below to match your birthday.