These dinners, candy boxes and events will help you usher in the Year of the Snake.
The Lunar New Year is a holiday centred around prosperity, good health, and honouring family, and it is celebrated in Asian communities all over the Greater Toronto Area.
It’s a celebration filled with get-togethers, large feasts, colourful decorations, traditional clothing and age-old customs. This year, it kicks off on January 29, 2025, to bring in the Year of the Snake.
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While you might often hear “Chinese New Year,” various Asian cultures celebrate this occasion, so “Lunar New Year” is the more inclusive term since it is also celebrated in Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Mongolia, and Singapore.
Here are some ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Toronto.
Toronto Spring Festival fireworks
The Toronto Spring Festival, which will debut this year, will be held at Nathan Philips Square on Saturday, January 25, from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.
This highly anticipated event will be rooted in sharing Asian culture and the traditions of the Lunar New Year, including lion dancing, an ice-skating performance, interactive experiences, Echo Market for shopping, and, of course, lots of great food.
The event culminates in a 5-minute firework show at 10 p.m. to welcome the Year of the Snake, which will surely impress.
Lunar New Year food
One of the best parts of the Lunar New Year is the food. There are various celebratory meals, but the most important is a dinner feast with extended family on the new year's eve. These dinners can be quite traditional and often quite extravagant.
The spread on the table is carefully curated to include dishes with symbolic meaning in their ingredients or names. Some dish names can be quite literal, while others could be plays on words.
Did You Know?
There is a Chinese New Year saying, 年年有余 (nian nian you yu), which translates into “may every year bring you surplus.” The play on words is that 余 (surplus) sounds like 鱼 (fish), which is why every dinner always has fish. Numerous dishes are based on this type of double entendre.
If you want to try traditional and modern takes on this food, here are a few ideas for restaurants serving Lunar New Year food.
DaiLo
Every year, Chef Nick Liu of DaiLo puts together a special tasting menu that in the past has featured the indulgent lobster longevity noodles, pastrami spring rolls (a traditional symbol of wealth and prosperity), oysters and pearls and steamed whole fish (to symbolize abundance).
Hong Shing
Hong Shing is another restaurant that traditionally offers an exquisite multi-course dinner during Chinese New Year.
This is when you’ll be able to savour the unique combination of Chinese and western cuisine with mouth-watering dishes such as ginger-onion lobster arancini, osmanthus beef tenderloin, and lobster chee cheong fun.
Dasha
At Dasha, don't miss the traditional dragon and lion dances accompanied by Chinese drummers. There are Pan-Asian special menu items, which in the past has included whole fried fish, snow crab okonomiyaki and galbi cheese steak gimbap.
Book reservations early because the performance and special menu is only available for a short time.
R&D
Chinatown’s R&D (a MICHELIN-recognized restaurant) serves special dishes for the Lunar New Year weekend in addition to the restaurant’s regular menu.
Shangri-La Lobby Lounge
Known for their elegant style and creative flair, the Shangri-La Lunar New Year Afternoon Tea is one you shouldn’t miss. Just like their other seasonal specials, expect each bite to be a symphony of flavours. Don’t forget that afternoon tea is always accompanied by freshly baked scones and their fine selection of tea.
Chatime
The popular bubble tea franchise Chatime always does something special for the Lunar New Year.
As a way to bring more fortune into your life, they usually run a special promotion that’ll give you a chance to win coupons, vouchers, and prizes. In the past, this has included limited edition red pockets specially designed by local Canadian artists.
Lunar New Year candy boxes and snacks
Another staple of the new year in Chinese traditions is to have a red lacquered box with compartments filled with candies and snacks called The Tray of Togetherness.
This box usually features six or eight compartments—six symbolizing luck and eight for fortune.
Meant for visiting family members, you’ll find edible treats ranging from gold-foiled chocolate Toonies, candied winter melon, watermelon seeds, fried dough twists and sesame balls to name a few. Of course, every single one has a wordplay or meaning behind them.
Outside of these candy boxes, there are plenty of other traditional foods involved, such as rice cakes, turnip cakes, traditional Korean cookies called hangwa, and Vietnamese banana-leaf-wrapped banh chung. These can be eaten as snacks or as part of a larger meal.
You can pick up these snacks individually from bakeries such as Wai Tack Kee and Saint Germain Bakery, or you can go to T&T Supermarkets for a wide array of gift boxes ready to go with an assortment of lucky snacks.
Lunar New Year decorations and red envelopes
Alongside all of that food during Lunar New Year, it’s customary to decorate your house inside and out.
The common thread is that they are red and will be accompanied by sayings of luck and happiness. Popular decorations include lanterns, upside-down words for luck, a kumquat tree, blooming flowers and new year banners.
Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the Lunar New Year is the Chinese tradition of giving red envelopes filled with money.
If you’re looking to purchase red envelopes and other Lunar New Year decorations, a great place to buy them is at One’s Better Living, which has several locations across the GTA, including Scarborough, North York, Richmond Hill, and Markham.
Lion and dragon dances
We’d be remiss not to mention the popular and playful lion and dragon dances, where a talented team of dancers collectively simulate the ferocious movement of the body and head, constantly matching its timing to the beating drum and cymbals.
You can catch these special performances at Pacific Mall’s Lunar New Year Celebration and at the benefit gala, Yee Hong Dragon Ball.
Downtown Chinatown’s two-day Lunar New Year Celebrations will feature lion dances alongside musical performances, cooking demos, fortune telling and cultural booths at Chinatown Centre and Dragon City Mall.
You’ll also find lion and dragon dances at several malls including Scarborough Town Centre, Chartwell Shopping Centre, Fairview Mall, Eaton Centre, and Sherway Gardens. Each will have their own individual schedules so make sure to check their respective websites.
More about Lunar New Year
The Lunar New Year spans numerous cultures and is known by different names. In China, it’s also called the Spring Festival or simply Chinese New Year. The festival is also celebrated in Korea as Seollal, in Vietnam as Tet, in Tibet as Losar, and in Mongolia as Tsagaan Sar.
In many ways, the Lunar New Year is similar to how the new year is celebrated when the clock ticks over to January 1. Instead of following the Gregorian calendar, it follows the Chinese Lunar Calendar, which is set to lunar phases, solar solstices and equinoxes.
This is why the Lunar New Year is on a different date each year and tied to the new moon between the middle of January and late February. According to the Chinese calendar, there is a cycle of 12 zodiac animals. 2025 is the Year of the Snake, symbolizing strength, fortune, wisdom and success.
Lunar New Year is packed with traditions, but every culture does it differently, and every family follows these customs in their own way. At the core of every celebration is bringing good luck, spending time with family and eating delicious food.
It’s worth noting that Lunar New Year is celebrated for 15 days until the arrival of the full moon (called the Festival of Lanterns). Contrast that to Tet and Seollal, which are celebrated for three days.
