Santa Monica Place to Celebrate Year of the Dog

By Lookout Staff

February 14, 2018 -- Santa Monica will join in the global celebration of the Chinese New Year with festivities Saturday afternoon at Santa Monica Place.

The celebration of the Lunar New Year-- which takes place from 2 to 6 p.m. -- features a Korean Fan Dance at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. and the Chinese Dragon Dance at 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Hosted by Katherine Ho from The Voice on NBC, the celebration will also feature classical folk music from a Chinese duo, stilt walkers, a traditional dough artist, a balloon twister and arts and crafts.

Santa Monica Place celebrates the Lunar New Year in 2017 (Courtesy Santa Monica Place)

Patrons are invited to hang a wish on the branches of the two New Year’s Wishing Trees for a two-dollar donation. Proceeds will benefit Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) at UCLA.

Also known as the Spring Festival, the celebration marks the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar, which indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year.

The new year, which starts on Friday, ushers in the year of the Dog under the Chinese Zodiac, which moves in a 12-year cycle.

Those born in 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, and 2018 were born in the Year of the Dog and are said to be independent, sincere, communicative and loyal.

The Lunar New Year is believed to have originated during the Shang Dynasty, which is said to have ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC.

When China adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1911, the festivities, which honor the gods and ancestors, were renamed the Spring Festival.

For more information on Saturday's festivities, visit SantaMonicaPlace.com or access our Concierge services anytime via text at (310) 499-2928.