"My Lunar New Year." - Volunteer Tyler Yan.

Each year, around two billion people celebrate Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, across the globe – it is one of the largest cultural celebrations among East and South East Asian communities.

Tyler Yan, a university student and member of our Patient and Public Panels (PPP), tells us more about the Lunar New Year, and how the lunar calendar works. He also talks about what he does as a PPP member and a representative of our Chinese community to help develop the services we provide for patients.

“I joined the NWAS PPP as a volunteer to help overcome some of the barriers the Chinese community might be facing, such as language and accessibility of the services. I provide insights to NWAS from a mixed perspective of medical professionalism – my Chinese heritage and also being a medical professional, having graduated with a Medical Science Master’s Degree.

“I often get asked why the Lunar New Year falls at a different time to New Year’s Eve. This is because the millennia of agricultural tradition in ancient China, with farmers looking to the moon as a guide for when to sow and harvest crops, led to celebrations of the Lunar New Year. The Lunar New Year is a celebration of the start of new year in the Chinese traditional calendar (also known as the lunar calendar). The next Lunar New Year falls on 10 February 2024.

“Leading up to and on this day, every Chinese family will celebrate with different traditional practices depending on where they come from. Usually, families visit their relatives and bring blessings to each other. Some families make gyoza (dumplings) together, while some of them enjoy fireworks displays. It’s all about staying together and sharing and spending time with the family.

“Traditionally, the lunar calendar system is symbolised by 12 zodiac characters, this year the dragon is the symbol. The order repeats so that every 12 years it would be Year of the Dragon. In my culture, the Year of the Dragon is a popular year to have babies as it is believed that babies will become as strong as a dragon when they grow up.

“Happy Chinese New Year to those celebrating!”

If you are interested in becoming a PPP member and want to make a difference in what we do like Tyler, visit: nwas.nhs.uk/panel.