Wing Luke Museum and Little Saigon Welcome Year of the Snake

Though the sun is still low above the Seattle horizon, five before 10 a.m., 300 people are already crowded around a metal-barricaded area. Fathers with infants perched on their shoulders impatiently poking their tiny heads out for a better view, elderly grandmothers bundled in scarves and fluffy hats chatting vibrantly, and young adults reuniting with distant friends. Despite everybody's chattering teeth, the air was alive at the Wing Luke Museum this past Saturday for its celebration of the Year of the Snake.

At 10:21 a.m., the festivities started literally with a bang as a Mak Fai Kung Fu Dragon and Lion Dance Association drummer began pounding two mallets on the largest drum. As loud as a gunshot, the roar of five coffee-tabled-sized drums, four cymbalists with identical silky emerald-colored clothing, and a bronze gong echoed around the cordoned section of South King Street from 8th Avenue South to 7th.

After the drumming concluded with a crescendo, Wing Luke Museum interim Executive Director Kamahanahokulani Farrar Law introduced the celebrations for the Year of the Snake, the animal representing wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, intuition, and creativity.

Thunderous drumming filled the air as a golden lion bounced high, hinged its jaws open and closed, and finally concluded when a Lunar New Year banner and glittering golden confetti erupted from its jaw. Soon, numerous other lions filed out, all performed by beaming children no older than 10. Excited toddlers clambering on the barricades for a better view reached out to pet them, and some were rewarded with soft milk candies.

Exploding firecrackers and confetti concluded the dancing around 11:08 a.m., clouding the air with a thick haze of incense. At 11:15 a.m., the ground was littered with streamer paper and lettuce bits. Then, the doors to the museum opened to welcome attendees with free entry and for a price, several Lunar New Year activities.

Beyond the first floor, a ticket was required to access the multitude of activities offered. On the second floor, an egg hunt in a stuffed snake pit. Next door, a quiet space with an overwhelming scent of sautéed chicken that fittingly introduced the importance of food during Lunar New Year. Also in the brand new KidPLACE exhibit was a fake kitchen for felt noodles, a towering cardboard and construction paper tree for tying Lunar New Year wishes up in artificial oranges, and a magnetic Zodiac animal tangram board. The second floor also was home to calligraphy lessons with Maggie Ho. Children filled every stool; likewise, calligraphy paper covered every inch of the table surface.

On the first floor, there were paper-covered tables in the Ford Foundation Community Hall for crafting paper snakes or coloring wooden snakes. A photo booth with gold streamers and red balloons was set up in the corner.

Last, from the brochure handed out to all guests, visitors could head to the Tateuchi Story Theatre to see the Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Buddhist Temple bless the museum for the new year, learn from Han Eckelberg and MJ Steele the art of the Lion Dance, and even see Reptile Man Scott Peterson with live animals!

Perched on a second-floor balcony overlooking South King Street, wearing a black turtleneck sweater and hot-pink pants, DJ Diana Ratsamee blended tracks from NewJeans to Sandy Lam to Anita Mui. It was her first year DJing for the Wing Luke Museum's Lunar New Year celebration.

"Chinatown was where I came up as a teenager. This was my stomping grounds," Ratsamee says. When the Wing Luke Museum started looking for a DJ, she felt she was "a natural fit." She decided to put together a playlist highlighting music from all over East and Southeast Asia, saying, "it's been so powerful to be able to hear our music after having never heard it before on the radio."

Moving on to the other side of I-5, Hello Em doubled as a community center and coffee shop, welcoming small local businesses to a Tết market: day two out of three of the 2025 Tết Celebration hosted by Friends of Little Saigon. Friday featured a vinyl record listening party; Sunday was a Bánh Tét Making Workshop.

Participants walking into the market space and leaving the blustery air outside were welcomed with light chatter and laughter — if it weren't for the powerful scent of coffee and vanilla, one might imagine they stumbled upon a family reunion. The concentrated space made the market seem ever more friendly and familiar.

Stephanie Mai, a Vietnamese artist, says the artists themselves are "pretty well-connected," and willing to "share opportunities [or] provide resources for each other." For her, the Tết market is "very meaningful." Events like these were "not very commonplace five-plus years ago. [Back then,] the Seattle art community wasn't very welcoming to Vietnamese artists and [the] POC gang that worked out there."

Kim Alzenki of Chow Fun, who owns five guinea pigs, nine chickens, and five ducks, runs a pet accessory business showcasing dog bandanas at the market. The Year of the Snake means "rejuvenation" for her. Snakes shed their skin; likewise, she plans on "getting rid of all the bad in favor of this year." Alzenki's dream for 2025? Getting "my products in a retail store."

Other small businesses featured included Dragonfly, a business that sells Vietnamese waffle baking mix, and Quynh Nguyen, a world-renowned paper flower artist who recently published a book and came to the Tết market to teach a paper flower workshop and hold a book signing.

Check out more upcoming Lunar New Year events:

• Tết in Seattle is hosting its annual Tết celebration on Jan. 25–26 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Seattle Center. Learn more on its website or follow its Instagram at @SeattleTet. 

• The Chinatown-International District is also holding a Lunar New Year festival on Feb. 22 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Hing Hay Park. More information can be found on its website.