Today marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, and festivities in and around Stockton are already underway.

Kicking things off, the District 56 event center in Elk Grove hosted a Lunar New Year Flower Market Fair on Saturday.

Visitors were immersed in a sea of red — a traditional color in many Asian cultures symbolizing luck and prosperity. Stalls offered blooming flowers, festive decorations and traditional crafts, while live performances, including dancers and drummers, entertained the crowd.

Flowers are used to decorate homes during Lunar New Year, said Eva Zhou, president of California Is My Home, a nonprofit dedicated to uniting diverse communities in the state, which sponsored the festivities.

And the event is called the “Flower Market” in honor of that tradition, she said.

Close-up of red and gold Chinese decorations with characters and festive designs.
Tasseled decorations were on hand at the Lunar New Year Flower Market Fair in Elk Grove. The red color symbolizes luck and prosperity. (Photo by Robyn Jones/Stocktonia)

“We need to decorate our house with flowers to make it pretty and lively,” Zhou told Stocktonia. “It is the symbol of prosperity.”

The festival, co-sponsored by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District utility company, celebrated not only the end of the lunar cycle but also the vibrant customs rooted in centuries of folklore and cultural meaning, Zhou said.

The Lunar New Year — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea — is a major festival celebrated in several Asian countries. In Taiwan, this year, people have been drawn to the White Snake Temple to pay their respects. In Indonesia, it is celebrated with dragon puppets and drum displays. It is also widely observed by diaspora communities around the world, including the U.S.

It begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends 15 days later on the first full moon. Because the lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, the dates of the holiday vary slightly each year, falling between late January and mid-February.

Prosperity, good fortune and the promise of new beginnings are the essence of what Lunar New Year represents, Zhou said.

Performers in colorful costumes participate in a lion dance with a large drum at an outdoor event.
Drummers perform during the lion dance at the Lunar New Year Flower Market Fair in Elk Grove on Saturday. (Photo by Robyn Jones/Stocktonia)

The festivities trace back thousands of years, when the monster Nián — meaning “year” in Mandarin — would terrorize villages at the start of each new year, she said. To ward off the monster, villagers lit bright lights, wore red clothing and created loud noises with fireworks and music, traditions that continue today.

A highlight of Saturday’s festival was the lion dance, performed to bring love, luck and prosperity for the year ahead, Zhou said. The lion — an enduring symbol of good fortune — moved through the crowd with both grace and energy, reminding attendees of the cultural significance behind the lively celebration.

“When the lions dance, they are going to bring us luck for the new year, and it reminds us of all the prosperities,” Zhou said.

To this day, the Lunar New Year celebration is centered around removing bad luck and welcoming all that is good and prosperous.

A traditional lion dance with red, white, and blue lion costumes performed outdoors before a large crowd.
The lion is an enduring symbol of good fortune in Asian culture. (Photo by Robyn Jones/Stocktonia)

The Chinese zodiac also played an important role in Saturday’s festivities.

Each year of the lunar cycle is associated with one of a dozen zodiac animals. The circle of 12 animals — the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig — measure the cycles of time. Legend has it that a god beckoned all animals to bid him farewell before his departure from Earth, and only 12 of them showed up. The Vietnamese zodiac is slightly different, honoring the cat instead of the rabbit and the buffalo instead of the ox.

The symbols carry unique meanings and predictions for individuals based on the year of their birth. The zodiac provides insights into fortunes, relationships and opportunities, connecting the past to the present as people look forward to the year ahead, Zhou said. This is the Year of the Snake.

Saturday’s festivities were just the beginning of the local Lunar New Year celebrations. Here are a few other events coming up:

More events are held throughout February and into March. Go online to VisitStockton.org for more information.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.