AVON LAKE — Happy new year!

Chinese new year, that is. The Year of the Ox is going out with a bang Saturday at Mark Pi’s China Gate in Avon Lake as the restaurant plans some treats for patrons.

Owner Tanya Kung said the event will begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. There will be a traditional lion dance with drums.

Just inside the restaurant entrance will be a table set up for the gods, Kung said, with food, candles and incense.

“They will smell the incense, see the candles, see the offering of a nice dinner and come give us good luck,” she said.

New Year’s is the most important celebration for the Chinese, Kung said. The Chinese new year celebration, which lasts two weeks, is a time to congratulate each other for getting through another year, to cast out the old year and welcome the new.

The celebration is marked with colorful, elaborate rituals including lion and dragon dances, accompanied by drum music to scare away bad luck.

A lot of the celebration traditions, Kung said, are based on superstitions for keeping away bad luck and bringing in good luck, such as the offering table. The firecrackers that will be at the restaurant will also help scare away evil spirits.

Each patron will also get a free rice cake and Chinese candy. The rice cakes are not the dry, crunchy kind you get in the grocery store. These are a sweetened rice paste wrapped in a wonton-style wrapper and fried.

This is Kung’s first new year at the Avon Lake restaurant, which she remodeled about six months ago. At the Akron Mark Pi’s restaurant she ran, Kung said, she had done New Year’s celebrations similar to this for the last 21 years and looks forward to bringing the tradition to Avon Lake.

The remodeling helps make the New Year’s celebration more festive. The restaurant doubled in size, allowing for more seating. When Kung took over the restaurant last year, she said, most of the business was for takeout. Now, she said, there is more sit-down business.

The Year of the Tiger, year 4708 in the Chinese lunar calendar, Kung said, begins Sunday.

Contact Melissa Hebert at 329-7129 or mhebert@chroniclet.com.

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