We are delighted to host a series of events on Saturday 21 February in celebration of Lunar New Year; the year of The Fire Horse. Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, acclaims the arrival of the spring season and the beginning of a new year in the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar.
In celebration of our connection to Chinese and Asian cultures, we invite you to join us in events that promote and rejoice the Lunar New Year festivities. Take part in traditional Chinese Medicine Ear Seedlings and Cupping experiences, flower arrangement workshop with renowned artist Jie Liu, Lion Dance, and a special Showcase Performance by Chinese-Malaysian musician and creative producer Sui Zhen with Tino Xuan Nguyen. All experiences offered as part of our Lunar New Year program are complimentary with your bathing experience.
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our program
Traditional Chinese Medicine Ear Seedlings and Cupping Experiences - RMIT teachers and students | 11am to 3pm
Ear Seedling and Cupping are therapeutic practices rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, designed to promote healing and balance. Ear Seedling involves placing seeds on specific points of the outer ear that correspond to various parts of the body, said to offer benefits such as stress relief, improved sleep, pain management, and hormonal balance. Cupping uses suction to stimulate blood flow and enhance circulation. During the experience, cups are placed on the skin, gently pulling the tissue to support your body’s natural healing processes.
Taking place in our Amphitheatre picnic area near the Fire & Ice Dome.
Traditional Floral Art Design: Sui Zhao Hua with Jie Liu 岁朝花 | 4pm to 6pm
The traditional concept of Sui Zhao refers specifically to the first day of the Lunar New Year. However, the festive atmosphere of the New Year often extends through the first month of the lunar calendar. As noted in the Shangshu Dazhuan (Great Commentary on the Book of Documents), Sui Zhao represents the Morning of the Year, the Morning of the Month, and the Morning of the Day. For this reason, it is known as the Three Mornings or the Three Beginnings.
By creating floral arrangements to celebrate the New Year, we welcome auspiciousness and pray for good fortune and blessings. In these floral arrangements, various ingredients will serve as symbols of good fortune: tangerines for luck, tangerine and lychee combinations for great prosperity, ginger for the nation, red chilies for a flourishing life, and garlic.
Taking place in our Fire and Ice Dome.
Lion Dance | 6:30 to 7:15pm
The Lion Dance is one of the most significant traditions during Lunar New Year, symbolising power, wisdom and superiority. It is performed to bring prosperity and good luck for the upcoming year, and is a way to create a joyous and festive atmosphere amongst the festivities. As you bathe in our geothermal springs, see if you can see the Lion Blessing taking place across our Amphitheatre space.
Lunar New Year Showcase Performance: Sui Zhen & Tino Xuan Nguyen | 7:30pm to 8:30pm
In celebration of Lunar New Year, we welcome Chinese-Malaysian Australian artist Sui Zhen. As a musician and creative producer working across sound, visual and interactive mediums, her art explores loss, identity and transformation through cinematic and surreal landscapes. Sui Zhen examines personal and societal loss, from grief and memory to the dislocation of tech-driven modern life, including deeply personal works such as Sleepless and the collaborative LP Origin of You with former Peninsula Hot Springs Artist in Residence, Mindy Meng Wang.
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the celebration of lunar new year
Celebrated amongst Chinese and Asian cultures, Lunar New Year is a time to assemble with family and express the best of wishes for the new year ahead. Whilst the dates of the holiday vary depending on the cycle of the moon, this year’s celebrations will begin on 17 February and conclude on 23 February. Peninsula Hot Springs' celebrations will occur on 21 February from 11am to 8.30pm.
Chinese zodiac, or shengxiao, is represented by 12 zodiac animals, each symbolising its own understood characteristics and intuitions. 2026 marks the year of the Horse, a symbol of energy, optimism, and transformation in the zodiac cycle.
Along with the representation of an animal zodiac, the years each cycle through the five elements of nature; Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal. During the 60-year calendrical cycle, 2026 is the year of ‘Fire’, which in Chinese culture is symbolic of energy, ambition and growth.