CLEVELAND — Cross-cultural history from 618 AD to the 1600s is being brought to life by the Silk Cultural Collective in Cleveland this Lunar New Year.

What You Need To Know

  • Lunar New Year is celebrated by 2 billion people around the world, including many in the United States and northeast Ohio
  • The holiday spans 15 days and marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year, according to the lunisolar calendar
  • The Silk Road Cultural Collective was one of several new performance groups that made its debut at the Asia Plaza’s Lunar New Year celebration on Saturday and Sunday

Co-founder Johnny Wu is wearing ancient armor and leading the collective in sharing the living traditions of the silk trade regions with northeast Ohioans to welcome the new year.

“The armors are protective for the stores and businesses so we can ward off the bad spirit, just like the lion does. And dragon dances. They do it all the time,” Wu said.

Silk trade began in 130 B.C.E. Han Dynasty of China, and expanded to several regions across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Dan Hanson, who is a cofounder of the Silk Road Collective, said the group is hoping share these countries’ histories spanning an over-thousand-year period of cultural and commercial exchange.

“The Silk Road got to Japan and Korea and south, but all of those different regions and eras, the different dynasties had different weapons, clothing [and] cultures,” Hanson said. 

Regions involved with the Silk Road, a 4,000-mile network of interconnected land and maritime trade route, Hanson said. (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)

Thousands of Ohioans participated in New Year festivities in Cleveland’s Asian Town over the weekend, which featured cultural performances, lion dances, food truck, vendors and other activities.  The celebration in Asia Plaza was organized by event coordinator Lisa Wong, who is president of the OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates Greater Cleveland chapter.

“I was born, raised here in Cleveland, and my family always celebrated Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year more commonly, but celebrated by many cultures, not just the Chinese,” Wong said. “So that’s why we call it Lunar New Year here.”

She said it’s the year of the Fire Horse, which only occurs every 60 years.

“The horse is a very popular zodiac animal, and so those who are born in the year get to celebrate,” she said. “And anyone that’s born in this year will also be the year of the horse.”

Lisa Wong (right). (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)

While many are excited for a fresh start, Wu said, he hopes its the beginning of celebrating Asian heritage in a new way.

“What we want to do is people can go away learning the the culture and learning the history, being educated about this and be immersed.”