{"id":349554,"date":"2025-01-28T10:29:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T10:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.co.uk\/?p=349554"},"modified":"2025-01-29T13:36:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T13:36:59","slug":"lgbt-esea-community-lunar-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/community\/lgbt-esea-community-lunar-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"How the queer, ESEA community is celebrating Lunar New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

From underground queer raves in London to crafting new traditions in Shanghai, here’s how the Year of the Snake is being celebrated.<\/p>\n

WORDS BY ZOYA RAZA-SHEIKH<\/strong>
\nHEADER DESIGN BY YOSEF PHELAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2024 AND HAS BEEN UPDATED IN-HOUSE.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>

Lunar New Year is upon us and it\u2019s the year of the Snake. An annual 15-day cultural tradition, Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring and the arrival of the new year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For many of us, celebrations centred around family and heritage can be a difficult time, whether it\u2019s down to identity reasons or not, but that doesn\u2019t always have to be the case. Togetherness \u2013 no matter what that looks like to you \u2013 can be found in ways that allow all aspects of your identity to feel seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, to mark the Year of the Snake, we spoke to members of the LGBTQIA+<\/a> ESEA community \u2013 across London<\/a>, Malaysia<\/a>, Madrid<\/a> and China<\/a> \u2013 to hear how they unite cultural tradition and their queer identities as they get ready to celebrate the Lunar New Year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jojo, 32, who spends time across London and Malaysia, connects with her queerness and East Asian community through parties in the UK capital and underground queer events in Kuala Lumpur.<\/span> \u201cI try to attend queer community Lunar New Year parties in London such as GGI \ub07c<\/a><\/span>\u00a0who are putting on a night with Eastern Margins. While I\u2019m celebrating Lunar New Year in Malaysia, I\u2019ve been able to attend local underground queer events,\u201d she says. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Despite the limitations on the queer community in Malaysia, these experiences are some I’ll never forget.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The significance of coming together can be found in discreet raves (or punk parties in Jojo\u2019s case), however, for London-based <\/span>B\u00f3x\u012b, 32, Lunar New Year is all about reconnecting with the queer community and tradition. Lunar New Year has helped them \u201cexplore\u201d what it means to be lesbian, non-binary and Asian-Australian. <\/span>\u201cI’ve found a queer Asian community who have made me feel able to merge those aspects of my identity,\u201d they share. \u201cThis involves re-connecting with Lunar New Year traditions from my childhood, mostly around food, watching the CCTV New Year’s Gala, and spoiling the younger folks in my family with red bags, a tradition which symbolises luck and happiness, and gifts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Queerness has helped me learn more about my culture and, through it, I feel closer to my biological family and history<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This year, for Year of the Snake, <\/span>B\u00f3x\u012b \u2013 who is also part of the Baesianz community \u2013 has plans to amp up queer Lunar New Year celebrations with XX and hitting up a queer ESEA rave. <\/span>\u201cThis year my partner and I are having our queer Asian community over for a vegan hotpot and mahjong,\u201d they say. \u201c<\/span>Queerness has helped me learn more about my culture and, through it, I feel closer to my biological family and history, which has also been a special experience these past few years. Also, looking hot at an ESEA rave helps too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

YZ, 23, currently lives in Madrid and, for her, Lunar New Year is all about killer red eyeliner and celebrating with food tied to her heritage. \u201c<\/span>I like to do New Year\u2019s dinner together with as many of the traditional dishes as possible: dumplings, fish, and noodles,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of sharing dishes, YZ checks in with queer friends to ensure they\u2019re able to feel acknowledged during celebrations. \u201cLunar New Year can be a very hard time for some of my queer friends who are less close with their families, so showing up for them that way is important to me,\u201d she explains. <\/span>\u201cGrowing up as a queer Chinese person, there was very little representation. I never got to see someone like me be accepted by their family. My queer joy is getting to see it in my own life and knowing that my parents support me regardless of my sexuality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Enema Stone, 25, is a singer and resident drag queen at <\/span>Medusa<\/span><\/a> in Shanghai. Lunar New Year can be difficult for Enema \u2013 \u201cYou have to turn it down a couple of notches\u201d due to conservative attitudes \u2014 there is more snow than people in \u53cc\u9e2d\u5c71 (ShuangYaShan)\u201d \u2013 but she has been able to find moments of queer joy and celebrate with the community. \u201cLunar New Year is really high camp \u2013 the costumes, the new clothes people are wearing, the hairdos, but the fireworks truly look like a music festival if you\u2019re out of town. It\u2019s really something you\u2019ve never seen!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lunar New Year is really high camp \u2013 the costumes, the new clothes people are wearing, the hairdos, but the fireworks truly look like a music festival if you\u2019re out of town. It\u2019s really something you\u2019ve never seen!<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similarly, for Sky, the co-founder and host of Medusa, he has found ways to make his heritage and queerness feel seen. \u201cI hang out with my friends mostly, especially a lot of my trans and queer friends who don\u2019t want to go back and deal with a lot of family pressures especially about dating, and all that,\u201d he says. \u201cI always like to have my own queer New Year at my house and celebrate it with my friends.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lunar New Year can be a hard time for those who feel unable to celebrate their queerness and may have to present more subtly, as Enema mentions earlier. The flux of presenting culturally and within your queerness can be an \u201cemotional burden\u201d for the <\/span>ESEA community <\/span>especially those that want to hold onto their roots as well as their queer identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

You share your identity piece by piece with them. Many learn to love you for who you are and some just let it go<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, queerness is not exactly [seen as] a traditional value, and especially when you are spending a lot of time with a more conservative family, this is sort of your one chance a year to learn how to express yourself and let a little bit of your queerness out to them,\u201d Sky explains. \u201cYou share your identity piece by piece with them. Many learn to love you for who you are and some just let it go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Lunar New Year rolls around annually, LGBTQIA+ Asians have resiliently continued to find ways to celebrate both their heritage and queer identity. And for those in Shanghai, Enema offers an open invitation to celebrate Lunar New Year in the queerest of ways: \u201cFor all the girls who stay in Shanghai, you got to find someone who can cook, and have your own little dinner, and have a chosen family<\/a> get-together, especially for my trans friends,\u201d she says.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From underground queer raves in London to crafting new traditions in Shanghai, here’s how the Year of the Snake is being celebrated. 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