Celebrate Chinese New Year in Tahiti
Kung Hi Fat Choi! Around the world everyone is wishing each other a happy new year in Chinese. The Chinese calendar isn’t fixed to the Western calendar and so each year the new year falls on a different day – although it is always in the month of Februrary.
This major holiday for Chinese in every corner of the globe is also celebrated on Tahiti where there are over 15,000 Polynesian of Chinese descent. Chinese have been in Tahiti for over a century and a half and are of course at the forefront of the new year festivities. In the center of Papeete there is a lion dance set to the music of drum beats and exploding fire crackers.
Visitors can also explore other Chinese traditions such as consulting oracles at the Chinese temple or enjoying the lantern festival. Tahiti is a perfect place to celebrate this occassion since it is enlivened with the mix of Chinese and Polynesian cultures.
©Tahiticommunication – Tous droits réservés
Crédit photo – G. Boissy