#27: Lunar New Year is a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. The year 2022 is the year of the Tiger, and tiger energy is exactly what Ariel and Stef want to take into the New Year. In this episode, they share the various cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year (and how Disney highlights them at their parks), the importance of identity in the AAPI community, and their podcast resolutions for the new year.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Resources for this episode:

1. Ultimate Rice Battle Ft Uncle Roger – SortedFood (reference can be found at the 11:43 time mark of this episode)

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef.

Ariel Landrum 0:15
And I’m Ariel. And we’re Disney fans. But really, we’re so much more.

Stefanie Bautista 0:18
I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:24
I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental and wellness. And Happiness Pod, well, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with what a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:35
Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Ariel Landrum 0:41
So Stef, what Disney experience are we dissecting today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:45
Well, we are coming up on the end of January, which means February is just around the corner. And for many of us, especially in the AAPI community, we are celebrating Lunar New Year, which is like New Year part two.

Ariel Landrum 1:00
Okay, okay. Yes. And so for our audience members who may not be fully aware, Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year is a festival that celebrates the beginning of the new year on the traditional lunar solar Chinese calendar. And of course, contrary to popular belief, it is not just a festival that’s celebrated in China Lunar New Year’s actually, festival that is celebrated in a lot of East and South East Asian countries. This year, starting February 1 is when the when the new year is, is the year of the tiger.

Stefanie Bautista 1:35
Yep. The new Lunar New Year is something that many AAPI community members we celebrate, especially if you are from China, or Vietnam or Korea, or have, you know, descent in any of those countries. And Disney decides to celebrate that at the parks, which is really awesome. In the past couple of years at the Disney California Adventure Park, they turn the walkway from the main park all the way up to Pixar pier into a beautiful Lunar New Year festival where they have food, much like the night markets and markets in Asia. And also they bring out Mulan and many of the characters that identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander. And they decided to highlight them in such an awesome way.

Ariel Landrum 2:19
Yes. And for my understanding, you did go to the festival?

Stefanie Bautista 2:24
I did. This is my second year going. I just went and they really they really upped the amplification on AAPI representation. It was awesome.

Ariel Landrum 2:36
So because you went, this is your second time you’re able to compare the first the last but when you went the first time was that also the first time they did it?

Stefanie Bautista 2:45
From my understanding, yes, I may be wrong. This is the first me and my friend who I would go to the parks with, whenever there was a food festival. That was the first time we ever went it was the first time I knew about it. They might have done it maybe in Epcot or other Disney parks, especially in Shanghai or Hong Kong. But I know that they introduced the Lunar New Year festival as a food festival of sorts because the Food and Wine Festival had been so popular and so successful.

Ariel Landrum 3:17
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 3:17
And then you got the holiday, the festival holidays where they have that same market type of fast eats. And yeah, I think this time because they knew that they could incorporate so many Disney characters, and the addition of such characters as Raya as Moana. I mean, even Lilo and Stitch in some ways, and also pulling from a lot of the Shanghai parks and the Hong Kong parks where Mickey and Minnie would have a special costume that they would wear. They would have performers, just many elements of Disney that they already had. I feel like being transferred that over to the New York Lunar New Year festival.

Ariel Landrum 3:56
Okay. Okay. So in looking at last year, and this year, what were some of the big changes, you did mention more representation in general, but even in the fact that it started off as more of just a food festival as it now feel like more like really a Lunar New Year festival?

Stefanie Bautista 4:17
Absolutely, I think especially before so the last time they had this is obviously pre COVID. So there were a lot less restrictions that we had to abide by. But because it was more of a food base focused festival, you had the kiosks and stalls along the walkway in front of the Little Mermaid ride and all the way up to the back where they have the restaurant and kind of where they have a plaza where they have a stage and some performances. I remember that they had they had a little area where you could write on a piece of paper and you can make your Lunar New Year wish for you and your family and you can hang it up. Much like how they do in Asia and then next to it, you could take pictures with Minnie and Mickey and their lunar new year. And then they also had many performances of Chinese dancers, ribbon dancers, dancers that had tambourines of some acrobatics here and there. But that was basically it. This time around, they have Mulan’s Lunar New Year procession. Oh, they don’t call it a parade because they don’t want people gathering like that. Um, parades are still kind of not okay at the park right now. But they have a really cute little procession. It’s the Year of the Tiger.

Ariel Landrum 5:31
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 5:31
So they had Tigger leading the procession.

Ariel Landrum 5:34
Oh my god!

Stefanie Bautista 5:36
And he was in such cute as like a cute outfit. Everywhere is decked out in red like, right when you get like, through the main part of California Adventure. There’s like a huge artist Lunar New Year. But the procession happens. I think once every hour, from nine to nine. I think. I could be wrong. But I know, I think as the sun goes down it, they do their last show, but they have dragon dancers. They have Mulan and Mushu on a float with Chinese drummers. And…

Ariel Landrum 6:09
Okay wait, is Mushu a puppet or a character?

Stefanie Bautista 6:13
Full-bodied character. He is a person just dancing along next to Milan, they have two sets of dancers in the back and then they have I think that’s it actually. So it literally is a very small, small small parade because they do not want people gathering waiting, just hanging out like masks off eating. So they try to meet in the middle of by having a procession and calling it that. And while they are doing the procession, there’s a voiceover that talks abou...