These are the Nike Dunk most exciting you will find for the first quarter of 2023. Not only because they have been designed to celebrate the Lunar New Year, but because of their colors and great references. And it is that these beauties are something like a clash of titans in the world sneaker. On the one hand we have the classic construction of a Dunk with the very famous —and hyper-desired— colorway ‘Panda’; on the other, in a very, very festive sense, we have elements that have been announced for the Air Force 1 ‘Just Do It’ commemorative edition. Which, let’s not forget, commemorate the 35th anniversary of this powerful mantra in the universe created by the Swoosh brand.
Let’s go by parts…
Lunar New Year: what is it?
As its name can tell us, it is the beginning of a new cycle in the lunar calendar. Which is based on the movement of this satellite with respect to our planet and requires different —and very precise— measurements compared to the calendar that we usually follow (the Gregorian). Celebrated between January 21 and February 19, this festival is very important to Asian cultures and, according to their beliefs, it is a period of renewal that sets the mood for the rest of the year. People clean their houses to shed last year’s bad luck and parades and dances are often part of the celebration. Children receive money as a good omen, while firecrackers are used to scare away evil spirits.
Although in the West most of the time we know it as Chinese New Year, we must be very aware that this party is not celebrated exclusively in China. Lunar New Year is traditionally a time for family gatherings, food, and colorful celebrations in Hong Kong, South Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other regions. Of course, modern China uses the Gregorian calendar —like most of the world—; however, their festivities are governed by the traditional lunisolar calendar, which could have been used as early as the 21st century BC. So, they live in the middle of both traditions.
