Jin Lin believes that learning about other cultures helps people get along.

And that is one of the goals of the Lunar New Year family fun festival.

The Comox Valley Multicultural and Immigrant Support Society (CVMISS) is presenting a family fun festival to celebrate Lunar New Year this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Lewis Centre.

The festival, which celebrates the Year of the Rabbit, will include games, crafts and cultural experiences.

For the Chinese community, Lunar New Year represents family gathering, happiness, wealth, good luck, prosperity and longevity, explained Lin, a CVMISS board member.

鈥淟unar New Year is the most important of festivals, especially to the Chinese community, but of course Lunar New Year is not only celebrated in China,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost of the Asian countries are doing something, but it鈥檚 very important to the Chinese community because ... everyone tries to go home by Lunar New Year eve.

鈥淭here is family gathering together and worship to ancestors. It鈥檚 kind of like a family reunion, and the food is so important, especially to the Chinese community.鈥�

Sunday鈥檚 festival is meant to introduce people to Lunar New Year history and culture.

The event features lion dancing, drumming, simple lantern making, Chinese calligraphy name writing and a demonstration on how to make Tang Yuan 鈥� sticky rice balls or dumplings.

鈥淲e do hope that this event will bring happiness to all the families in the Valley; we hope that everybody enjoys this event,鈥� Lin noted in an e-mail.

The CVMISS is also looking for volunteers who would like to donate some time to share their knowledge or experience to this event.

鈥淲e know there are many people from all around the world who are living in Comox Valley, yet we do not know each other,鈥� said Lin. 鈥淲e would like to invite them to come and join with us, make new friends and share (their) culture with us.鈥�

This is the first time that the CVMISS has organized a Lunar New Year celebration that is open to the public.

鈥淲e thought how about we share with people and share with the rest of the community,鈥� said Lin.

The society鈥檚 mission is to link people together, hand in hand, and the main purpose is to develop better communication through introducing new cultures, she explained.

For more information about the Lunar New Year event, contact Lin at 250-338-9386 or maplepool@shaw.ca.

writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com