MONTREAL In years past, the garden and fountain area of the Holiday Inn in Chinatown would be bustling today, full of visitors in town to celebrate the Lunar New Year. This year, the scene is quiet, and festivities are muted because of the pandemic. Xianshu Huang would normally host concerts and other festivities to celebrate the New Year, but the president of the Montreal Chinese Culture and Arts Foundation says this year, organizers had to find creative ways to celebrate the Year of the Ox virtually. “For the Chinese Lunar New Year the Year of the Ox is a lucky year, a good year, because the characteristics of the Ox is ‘hard-work without complaint’,” she said. “And it’s brave enough to embrace the challenge and overcome the difficulty and that s why we want to celebrate, it s really hope for a New Year.”
MONTREAL It s not just people who celebrate Christmas who found their usual traditions disrupted on Thursday. On the night that some members of the Jewish community jokingly refer to as “Erev Christmas,” a ritual has emerged that in normal years takes on the form of a celebration for those who don t celebrate: heading out for Chinese food. The tradition has become so popular that some have tried to explore its history, tracing it back to Eastern European immigrants to the United States in the late 19th century. But with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the dining rooms of all types of restaurants in Quebec s red zones, the usual orders of General Tso are being ordered in or left for next year.