Last Saturday, Feb. 21, over 500 people joined the University of Nevada, Reno in celebrating the Lunar New Year. An event that began over 3,000 years ago, Lunar New Year observes the start of the spring season in East and Southeast Asian cultures. Lasting just over two weeks, this year’s celebration began on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and honors the Year of the Horse.

The event was co-hosted by the Multicultural Center and various API (Asian & Pacific Islander) student groups, including the Vietnamese Student Association, Wolf Pack Taiko, and Little Swan Dancers. The event included free food, dance and musical performances, and information for attendees about the Lunar New Year.

“We’re here to inform the campus about our traditions and about the event,” Annie Thai, president of the Vietnamese Student Association, said. “Showing why Lunar New Year is so important in our cultures, and we just have a lot of fun with everyone.”

The student group was initially created by Vietnamese international students back in October 2024 and was then passed down to Thai, who prioritized the return of the Lunar New Year celebration.

Part of the featured performances included the Little Swan Dancers, a local dance academy featuring Asian Folk Dances.

“There’s a lot of younger students,” Claire Lin, a member of the Davidson Academy, said. “It’s around elementary school to high school, and we do traditional Chinese dance and other traditional Asian dances, so it’s a great opportunity for younger dancers to have a stage to perform and to be able to share and celebrate our culture.”

A new performance at this year’s event was the inclusion of the Lion Dance, courtesy of Wolf Pack Taiko. The group researched rhythms traditionally in lion dancing and ways to recreate those rhythms with their own twist, which resulted in a mesmerizing performance.

During the celebration, the Joe Crowley Student Union’s Milt Glick Ballrooms were full of activity, food and fun as members of the community joined in ringing in the Lunar New Year.