As the title sponsor of San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade & Festival, we’re proud to celebrate not only the year of the Rabbit but also the year of the Cat—and all the communities this holiday touches.

For MyHoa Tran and Esther Chan, the New Year means more than turning the page in a calendar. For their families, celebrating the first moon of the Lunar New Year can be a multi-day-long event that goes back generations. It means families getting together, renewal, fortune and delicious dishes steeped in tradition.

Tran and Chan, members of our Air Group Pan Asians (AGPA) business resource group (BRG), share what makes this time of year special for them and how even the name of the holiday differs based on where you are from.  

While Lunar New Year is the general term for the start of the traditional lunisolar calendar, the holiday also has different names in specific cultures. People from Chinese culture call it Spring Festival, or Chūnjié, Koreans call the New Year Seollal, and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết.

In most Asian cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year, 2023 is the year of the Water Rabbit. However, Vietnam does not have the rabbit as part of their zodiac animals and instead celebrates the Year of the Cat.  

Celebrating Vietnamese Tết

Records analyst MyHoa Tran celebrates Tết from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese lunar calendar until at least the third day.

It’s about family: “It’s important to me because it’s the only occasion for all family members to get together,” Tran said. “We set aside all the troubles and worries of the past year and hope for a better and happier upcoming year.” In addition to gathering to eat, people wear their best clothes and visit their relatives and neighbors, sharing gifts and special wishes. “The elderly receive wishes for health, the adults are wished fortune and success, and the young and children receive money envelopes,” Tran said.

Cleaning the house: Tết starts the month before with a ceremonial cleaning of the house from top to bottom, followed by decorating. “In the South, where I’m from, we use yellow apricot blossoms, which represent the spirit of Tết,” Tran said. “We also use marigolds-symbolizing longevity, chrysanthemums, cockscombs and paperwhites.”

Oh, the food! Food preparation begins a week before the holiday. “We prepare roasted watermelon seeds, pickled onion, cabbage, and small leeks, dried candies, fruit trays, coconut candy, peanut brittle and a big pot of meat stew cooked in coconut juice,” she said.

On New Year’s Eve Day, the whole family gathers to prepare the traditional bánh tét, a savory-sweet rice cake, which takes about 24 hours to cook. “Everyone in the house has a job to do–be it the banana leaves, rice, cooking the meat (pork belly) or rolling and packing the cakes.

Ringing in Lunar New Year with loved ones

For software engineer Esther Chan, who hails from Mainland China and Hong Kong, being with family and friends is important.

Red Pockets: At Lunar New Year, it’s tradition to give the gift of a bright red pocket (envelope). They are filled with money and symbolize good wishes and fortune for the year ahead. “When I was a kid, I was most excited about getting red pockets from grandparents, parents, uncles and aunties,” Chan said. Other symbols are the New Year’s Eve firecrackers and red New Year scroll.

Why it’s special: “To me, spending time with family and friends is the most important thing during the Lunar New Year holidays,” Chan said. “I have many great memories during the breaks and miss celebrating it with my family back in Hong Kong.” 

What not to do: “Certain things are taboo during Lunar New Year—such as swearing or quarreling, getting your hair cut (because hair means ‘become rich’ and you don’t want to cut that), wearing white or black clothing (red or gold is lucky), and saying the number four (which can mean death),” said Chan.

Saige Adaro, 18, felt lost in 2020 when the pandemic brought an abrupt end to 10 years of studying dance – until an invitation to join a video class propelled her onto a new creative path. Holden Aniya, also 18, discovered a love for digital storytelling, which has helped her stay closer to her family while she pursues her dream of becoming an airline pilot. For both young women, an innovative digital media program serving elementary through high school students that is supported by the Alaska Airlines Foundation gave them new tools to express themselves and dream bigger.

Adaro and Aniya were among more than 3,300 students in Hawai‘i who participated last year in HIKI NŌ, a PBS Hawai‘i program that teaches students how to create PBS-quality videos telling the stories of their communities. HIKI NŌ, which received a 2022 grant from the Alaska Airlines Foundation, also cultivates professional skills that help students succeed in college and their future careers.

Students’ projects are released on a weekly PBS Hawai‘i broadcast, as well as the PBS Hawai‘i YouTube channel, and 90 schools across four islands participate. “It’s a huge thing for Hawai‘i kids, who are in sort of a little bubble,” said Aniya, who is now a freshman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “HIKI NŌ is a great way for kids to get out there, speak to different people and share their stories with everyone.”

Adaro loved her work with HIKI NŌ so much that it changed her entire career path. She’s now majoring in screenwriting at Chapman University in California.

“Like dance, this was telling stories through movement, but I found that I like telling stories through writing and video because it was a way to highlight people in my community,” said Adaro, who produced a half-dozen videos during her junior and senior years at Pearl City High School – including one reflecting on how the pandemic altered her creative journey. “In our projects, I always loved being the one to craft the script, and this helped lead me to where I am.”

Aniya, who has known since she was in eighth grade that she wants to be a commercial airline pilot, says the program also taught her how to handle criticism and overcome obstacles. And now that she’s far from home studying aviation, she loves making videos to share with family. “It’s amazing to think about how that invitation to focus on telling a story can give you something that you can carry on forever,” she said.

The Alaska Airlines Foundation is committed to creating opportunities for young people to inspire the next generation

The Alaska Airlines Foundation, a nonprofit grant-making organization, is dedicated to supporting programs for the next generation of leaders in aviation and beyond, particularly in the West Coast states we call home. HIKI NŌ is among 68 organizations in Hawai‘i, Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington that received grants from the Foundation in 2022 to equip and enable young people to pursue their career dreams.

Over the past 23 years, we have invested more than $4 million in grants for communities where Alaska Airlines flies. HIKI NŌ received past support from Alaska Airlines, and the 2022 Foundation grant came in the same year we celebrated 15 years of service to the Hawaiian Islands.

“Programs like HIKI NŌ enable equity and opportunity for students who may otherwise be overlooked and put them on a path to achieve future success,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, Foundation chair and senior vice president of public affairs and sustainability at Alaska Airlines. “The Alaska Airlines Foundation helps great organizations like PBS Hawai‘i do this important and powerful work to inspire young people in our communities and equip them with the tools to dream big.”

Cultivating skills for future careers

Adaro began to realize that filmmaking could be a viable career as she produced HIKI NŌ projects like “Sewing a New Normal,” which told the story of her school’s fashion program. “I loved being able to do a video about how that program has survived COVID and how it’s continuing to grow,” she said. “Just shining a light on something that often goes overlooked, that contributes a lot to students’ lives, was really gratifying and I loved doing it.”

Ryan Kawamoto, a director and vice president for Kinetic Productions in Honolulu, remembers getting his start in a high school video production class. Now, he’s mentored dozens of HIKI NŌ students. “Not all of them will go into the industry and that’s OK,” he said. “But they’re learning valuable soft skills like teamwork, communication, creative problem-solving, speaking skills and writing skills. The list goes on and on.”

Kawamoto offered Adaro a summer internship after her experience with HIKI NŌ. “It definitely opened so many doors for me,” said Adaro, who plans to pay it forward by becoming a future HIKI NŌ mentor. “For students all over the state, it allows them to explore an artistic side of the media industry, and it allows them to explore their passions. I owe a lot to it.”

The Alaska Airlines Foundation is now accepting new grant requests for 2023. More information on applying for a Foundation grant can be found here.

Alaska Airlines announced an expanded partnership with the Portland Trail Blazers organization, which includes being named the official airline of the NBA team. Portland is a crucial part of Alaska’s future, operating as a key West Coast hub where they serve the most nonstop cities of any airline.

The expanded partnership means Trail Blazers fans will see a lot more of Alaska during games and outside of basketball. Elements of this expanded partnership include sponsorship of Moda Center Theater of the Clouds, presenting “The Trail” docuseries that will soon be available in-flight, expansion of the popular “Wear in the World” promotion, new in-game features and social programs.

“Being a part of the Portland community for so many years is something we greatly value,” said Eric Edge, managing director of marketing and advertising. “Between our loyal guests and the thousands of our employees who live and work in Portland, we’re dedicated to creating strong connections with organizations throughout the region. We believe that sports can strengthen a community, and we look forward to seeing all the exciting things we can do together with the Trail Blazers.”

“We are thrilled to name Alaska Airlines the official airline of the Portland Trail Blazers,” said Andrea Bailey, EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, Portland Trail Blazers. “Alaska is a leading brand in Portland and has continuously invested in the Portland community. We’re excited to partner with them on various initiatives including bringing our fans closer to the team via the new docuseries, The Trail.”

Alaska Airlines in Portland

Throughout the year, we offer up to 105 daily flights from Portland to 45 cities across North America, the most of any airline. Guests can also reach hundreds of international destinations through our fellow oneworld member airlines and additional global partners – including destinations like Reykjavik, Iceland and London, England nonstop from Portland. Over the next three years, Alaska plans to invest in a new terminal and lobby at Portland International Airport as well as a new 10,000 square foot flagship lounge.