NY Public Schools Will Close For Lunar New Year For The First Time Ever
It appears that the Year of the Snake is slithering in to give NY students a day off from school! Public schools all across New York will give students a day off to celebrate Lunar New Year as an official school holiday for the first time ever.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations to East and Southeast Asian cultures around the globe. It’s a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. And while NYS has the second largest Asian population across the country, Lunar New Year wasn’t considered an official NYS public holiday until June 2023. New York was the first state to mandate school closures for the occasion.
Last year, Lunar New Year fell on a Saturday, so students already had the day off. But this year, the holiday falls on Wednesday, January 29th so NY public schools will be closed according to the DOE School Calendar, giving students a mid-week break from their school week and a chance to celebrate, reflect on, and learn about Asian traditions. New York Assemblymember Grace Lee, who supported the bill, told NBC:
Recognizing Lunar New Year as a statewide holiday is sending a message to Asian Americans, and to all New Yorkers, that Asian Americans are New Yorkers, and that we belong here…I think it’s also a recognition for the many contributions that Asian Americans have made to New York’s history in the nearly 200 years since we’ve been here.
Though the calendar shows that Lunar New Year is only one day, the celebration actually spans more than two weeks of festivities. If you’re looking to partake in festivities yourself, these are the best Lunar New Year events in NYC to celebrate the Year of the Snake.
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