Library hosts celebration of Lunar New Year

By JAMES BERNSTEiN jbernstein@liherald.com

A bit of Asian culture, colorful, bold and musical, came to the Long Beach Public Library last Sunday, the last day of the Lunar New Year.

Two groups composed primarily of teenagers — the Ryu Shu Kan: Japanese Arts Center, of Farmingville, and the Chinese Center of Long Island, in West Hempstead — staged separate half-hour performances on the library’s second floor to celebrate the year of the Water Rabbit.

The Water Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace and prosperity in Chinese culture. The year 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope.

Kelly, now 90, said. But, he added, “It took me three years to get up the guts to ask her out.” As teens, they lived two houses apart but barely knew each other.

The couple, who married on Oct. 8, 1955, at Manhattan’s elegant Waldorf Astoria Hotel, plan to spend Valentine’s Day next week the way they have for decades. Ginny will take delivery of a large bouquet of red roses from her husband, and they will go out to dinner.

“Now that we’re approaching 68 years together, I don’t know how a florist is going to handle it,” Don joked.

He and Ginny, he added, will have dinner alone, without their two daughters, Nancy

Continued on page 11 ists in Partnership, which organized the show, “A 2023 Lunar Celebration,” in conjunction with the Long Beach Library, said the fact that the city’s Asian community is small made it all the more important to hold the event. about

“It’s all about making people aware of other cultures,” MathiesonEllmer said. “We’re an island, but we’re not alone amongst ourselves.” The celebration was an opportunity to expand understanding among different groups and to showcase different holiday traditions, she said.

MATHiESoNEllMER Artists in Partnership

Long Beach has a tiny Asian population — only about 4.5 percent of the city’s roughly 35,000 residents identify as Asian. The only group that is smaller is Latinos, who comprise about 3.8 percent of the population.

But Johanna MathiesonEllmer, executive director of Art-

The event took place at a time of high tension between the United Station and China. Last Saturday the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had drifted across the American continent. The Chinese have condemned the action.

Nonetheless, MathiesonEllmer said, art took precedence over conflict at the library on Sunday.

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