How Montrealers are ushering in the Lunar New Year amid the pandemic

Pandemics don't offer much cause for celebration, but Kim Nguyen's family is still keeping spirits high for the Lunar New Year.

Or as it's known to the Vietnamese, Tết.

Usually, Nguyen said, she would visit family and elders around this time. In a typical year she also tries to visit multiple Buddhist temples throughout the Tết celebrations, which is said to bring good fortune for the upcoming 12 months.

"Last year, I remember, it was incredibly crowded," said Nguyen, an 18-year-old Montrealer. "It was packed with people standing, like on the staircase until there was no more room."

The Lunar New Year marks the first day of the lunisolar calendar, which is followed by many countries in eastern Asia. It's always a big day, although celebrations will be lighter this year due to pandemic measures and restricted travel.

Given the public health situation, places of worship like the Chua Quan Am temple in Côte-des-Neiges are holding "safe services" outside for Montrealers who wish to visit. Nguyen says her grandparents have already visited a couple of times, and she plans on going herself during the weekend.

And to maintain some semblance of the gatherings her family would usually hold, Nguyen's clan will connect through a video-conference and share a meal.

"We're still going to try our best to celebrate, despite the circumstances," said Nguyen.

The lions are at rest this year

Around this time of year, 32-year-old Sarah Mah would typically be preparing for a Lion Dance performance, usually held in Montreal's Chinatown. She's a part of the Montreal Youth LVH Lion Dance Wushu Team.

She says the Lion Dance is one of the most important traditions of Chinese New Year.

"It's meant to symbolize, you know, wisdom and power," says Mah. "It's a way to signal that new year's here ... a way to celebrate. I think it's one of those cornerstone traditions that, you know, we think about whenever you go to Chinatown."

This year, the team had to cancel its practices and, more recently, its performances.

But despite that setback, Mah and her family are still trying to make Chinese New Year a joyous occasion. She'll be doing this through a simple group call with her family in Vancouver and Toronto on Friday evening to usher in the Year of the Ox.

"For us, it's the kind of celebration where we make time for each other as family," she said.

Gaining a year, with store-bought dumplings

Eunmee Yoo says Seollal, Lunar New Year for Koreans, is perhaps the biggest, most important holiday for her family.

Yoo says the feast can take over eight hours to prepare. And on the day of Seollal, visiting and bowing to elders, as well as setting up a table for their ancestors are just a few traditions Yoo practises.

It's also where the concept of Korean age comes in. Because of a cultural tradition holding that a newborn is already considered one year old, most Koreans gain a year on Seollal rather than on the day they were born.

"Normally we have a soup which got called tteokguk," says Yoo. "So all the time my parents told me if I want to get older, get one year older, I have to have one bowl of soup."

But this year Yoo says she'll be staying home, as will her parents in Korea, to set up a video call.

"I think I will buy something," Yoo says, laughing. "Preparing dumplings, it takes so much time!"