From Chunjie to Seollal to Tet, Lunar New Year is one of the most diversely celebrated holidays in the world. On the first day of the new Lunar calendar a large part of Asia, and people with Asian heritage around the world, begin a celebration that can last for weeks. In China, kids receive lucky money in red envelopes, in Korea, games of Yut Nori are common after paying respects to your ancestors, and in Vietnam, houses are decorated with peach blossoms and kumquat trees.
While there are differences in how various cultures celebrate Lunar New Year, there are plenty of commonalities as well. Family is at the heart of every Lunar New Year holiday–with food coming right behind. The colors of red and yellow span cultures with the goal of bringing luck into the coming year.
Lunar New Year is important to us as well. Lunar Revel, the annual Lunar New Year in-game celebration, returned for 2023 across League, Wild Rift, and TFT. The Lunar Revel cinematic features champions and Little Legends alike sharing a ride to the festival.
A pilgrimage home is common for Lunar New Year so Wild Rift decided to decorate each Nexus with lanterns to signify the importance of a home base. Caitlyn also opened up her own paper-cutting shop and players were able to fill food orders for the five classic champions who received new Mythmaker skins.
Over in League, Galio, Garen, Irelia, Sivir, and Zyra received new Mythmaker skins and Ashe, Malphite, Kha’Zix, Thresh, and Qiyana became Lunar Gods.
Over in TFT Lunar Revel saw Lunar Gala Little Legends, a House of the Golden Rabbit board, and Fortune Favor, TFT’s first temporary game mode.
We’re celebrating outside the games as well. From Shanghai to Los Angeles, Rioters went all out to ring in the start of the Year of the Rabbit (or Year of the Cat for our Vietnamese Rioters).
Rioters Around the World Celebrate Lunar New Year
Rioters in our Shanghai office worked with the Zigong Lantern Show Association to build a Runeterra-themed Lantern Show. One of China’s oldest and largest lantern shows, the Zigong Lantern Show Exhibition will run from January 17 to March 31. Over that time more than half a million tourists will visit the park in China’s Sichuan province.
Lunar New Year comes with a wide variety of traditions. In addition to lanterns, paper-cutting ceremonies are also common where scissors are used to create beautiful works of art. Rioters in China collaborating with Tencent worked with the China Paper Cutting Museum to create this showcase of the art form with a unique Riot spin.
In Singapore, Rioters will LoHei to celebrate the holiday before most of the office takes some time off to celebrate with family. Down in Sydney, Riot’s newest office, they will also be celebrating with the iconic lucky red packets filled with gold coins. Across many of Riot’s offices, pantries will be stocked with a little extra luck and prosperity to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
A Night Market in Los Angeles
At our global HQ in Los Angeles, API, our Rioter Inclusion Group for Asian and Pacific Islanders, took center stage for the festivities.
We held a night market featuring dragon dances, games of Yut Nori, and traditional foods that have become staples of Lunar New Year celebrations.
Plus our on-campus coffee shop Bilgewater Brew created a special Milk Tea drink and in our main hallway, a Wishing Tree was adorned with hopes of good fortune in the coming year.
