This year’s Lunar New Year kicked off with a bang in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Wednesday as 10,000 firecrackers were set off on Kearny Street.
Hundreds of spectators packed Portsmouth Square, with many pushing to the front or standing on a park bench to catch a glimpse of the performances and speeches before the lighting of the firecrackers.
“We gather as a community to honor our traditions, celebrate our culture and celebrate the opportunity of the year ahead,” said San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Donald Luu in a speech. “Chinese New Year is a time of unity, reflections and renewal.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie, former Mayor Willie Brown, several members of the city’s Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, City Attorney David Chiu, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Police Chief Bill Scott and Sheriff Paul Miyamoto all joined in on the celebration. Many were adorned in red, a color that represents good fortune and vitality in Chinese tradition.
They tried speaking their best Cantonese while wishing the crowd a happy Lunar New Year, some garnering laughs and others impressing.
“Thank you for being part of the most amazing Chinese community in the country,” Chiu said. “I feel the history of the 170 years of Chinatown. Our ancestors, parents, grandparents, who all came here before us and were able to move through challenges of Chinese exclusion, fires, earthquakes, COVID-19 and anti-Asian hate. They help lead the best Chinatown in the entire country.”
2025 is the year of the snake in the Chinese Zodiac. It represents transformation and letting go of negative habits, akin to a snake shedding a layer of its skin.
“The snake is special because it symbolizes rebirth and renewal in a year where we certainly need it,” said Yang Shouzheng , Chinese acting consul general for San Francisco. “It sheds its scales and comes out with a new skin, and that’s what we need for San Francisco. That’s what we need for California. That’s what we need for the country.”
Several city leaders were given paintbrushes to dot the eyes of the red and yellow dancing lions, a ritual done every Lunar New Year that symbolically awakens and brings the lions to life.
They then were escorted down to Kearny Street by people dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and masks, a costume that represents deities or spirits to drive away bad luck.
A string covered in 10,000 firecrackers dangled from the walking bridge above Kearny Street, which was blocked off for the event. Lurie, Luu, and Shouzheng were given the honors of lighting the firecrackers.
A crowd surrounded the firecrackers, with many people covering their ears as the loud blast echoed through the street. As each firework became lit, they sparked rapidly one after another, sounding similar to a rain of bullets.
A cloud of smoke billowed up into the air, leaving behind a pile of exploded pink and black firecracker debris that from afar looked like rose petals.
“The streets have come alive with the energy of lion and dragon dances and firecrackers,” Luu said in a speech. “We take immense pride in our cultural heritage and our Chinese New Year festival and parade, the largest outside of Asia. We continue to unite people from all backgrounds in celebrating this cherished tradition.”
Various Lunar New Year celebrations will continue for the next few weeks in the city, concluding with the 2025 Chinese New Year Parade on Feb. 15.
“I am fired up for the next couple of weeks and I hope you all are as well,” Lurie said in a speech.
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