The Lunar New Year of the Horse
How do Cantonese Catholics celebrate it?
As many as 84 people from across the region and beyond came to Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Sawston on Saturday 28 February 2026 to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Though the New Year Day was on 17 February, typically celebration could go on to at least the 15th day, like the season of Christmas.
It began with a Thanksgiving Mass in Cantonese. The Celebrant was Canon John Minh, parish priest of OLOL and St John Fisher Cambourne. Canon John has been celebrating Mass in Cantonese since April 7th, 2022, so he can be described as an “old hand”. On this occasion, he was aided by Deacon Peter Ho, who will be ordained to the priesthood in July 2026.
Though we are in Lent, the vestments were in red, an auspicious colour to the Chinese people. Red can also be taken to stand for the blood shed by the Catholic Martyrs of China, known and unknown, canonised, or not.
For Deacon Peter, it was his first ever proclamation of the Gospel in Cantonese and he also delivered the homily, again in Cantonese. The congregation was impressed by his zeal of mission and so gamely taking part despite having less than a day to practise, in between his training days at St Marys Oscott Seminary Birmingham and his parish pastoral work.
Indeed, the Cantonese Community were so enamoured with his gracious effort that we offered to sinicize his name which he has since accepted. He will henceforth be known to us as: Revd Deacon 何 (Ho) 庇德(Peter). The two characters rhyme with Peter. 庇 means guarding or protecting ;德 means virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity in particular. We look forward to July when we can start addressing him as Revd Father 何庇德！
Our Lunar New Year celebration is not merely about eat, drink and be merry. For us Hong Kong Catholics, it blends an ancient tradition with Lent penitential devotion and reflection. It is about giving thanks for another year of love and care between and amongst the generations; it is about making amends in broken relationships and be reconciled with one another, and above all be grateful for the redemption that Christ Jesus brought and is still giving us all. Like reflections throughout Lent, the Lunar New Year guides us to think and live anew, ridding ourselves of the old and seeing in the new. 日新又新(Renewal), and be more fully engaged in alms giving and prayers, as was prayed in the Collect.
In the liturgy, the first reading was from Genesis (1:27-31); even though we have a cultural lineage going back thousands of years, we know that it all began with the Almighty, Our Creator. Our joy and gratitude were further reflected in the responsorial Psalm 100:1-5. This theme of entrusting ourselves to God continued with St Paul’s letter to the Philippians (4:4-9). Then Deacon Peter proclaimed the Gospel of John (1:1-5;9-12). In his homily, he propounded that Jesus’ unique genealogy reveals His origin, who was with God in the beginning. Through his incarnation He came as the light of the world; we who believe in and are guided by Him will live as worthy children of God.
The Mass ended with a solemn blessing that implored God to keep us and steer us through the year of the Horse and beyond, granting us the virtues of Faith strengthening, Hope persevering and Charity unwavering.
Before the Community retired to the Hall to begin their joyous traditional activities, Canon John distributed to everyone a red envelope (or laisee) that held a prayer card. It signified his role as our pastor caring for our growing “faith-based family.” It is the custom that at the Lunar New Year elders would gift a red envelope to younger generations of the family.
