While many Philadelphians rang in America’s 250th with the Mummers or at the inaugural NYE concert on the Parkway, one immigrant community celebrated the new year a few days later. And the party wasn’t for 2026; it was for 2765.
“Karen New Year is a really precious day for us, because Karen people are all over internationally — not only in the United States,” said Naw Doh, executive director of the Karen Community Association of Philadelphia (KCAP). “We are one unit. We respect our Karen New Year. We want to keep our culture — to pass this to [the next] generation.”
Philly’s Karen (kuh-REN) refugee community — an ethnic minority from Myanmar (formerly Burma), who have faced decades of persecution, armed conflict and displacement — has been growing over the past two decades.
The Karen New Year’s celebration is a national holiday that the community fought to establish in 1938. It takes place on the first day of Pyathoe, an annual cultural celebration marking the end of the rice harvest, and represents rest, reflection and renewal. The event usually falls somewhere between December and January.
Karen people across Pennsylvania traveled to the Bok building to take part last Saturday. Around 250 people piled into the building’s auditorium for the celebration, wearing festive Karen dress: handwoven tunics in bright colors with geometrical patterns.
Throughout the day, the stage featured traditional dance and musical performances, as well as speeches from community leaders, including State Senator Nikil Saval and Councilmember Mark Squilla.
“Honoring Karen New Year is a way to honor ourselves and each other,” Saval said. “This year, immigrant communities across the country and here in Philadelphia have experienced singular hardships. And in response, these communities — our communities — have shown all Americans what it means to be in solidarity with one another and to practice care for each other.”
The joy of an immigrant group celebrating openly and together in a shared space was palpable. Mu Kpaw, a Karen community leader in Lancaster, traveled to Philly for the celebration.
“We are very blessed to be here in the U.S., because we feel like the U.S. is our home,” he said. “Back in our homeland — back in Burma or Thailand — we are relocating. We are a displaced people … Coming here, we have a stable home, stable job. We work for a living.”
He said that recently, people in his community have been reaching out to him with questions, worrying about their immigration status.
“We try to bring ourselves together, especially for this type of event,” Kpaw said. “We try to forget about all the things happening right now around us — especially immigration … We have people who are citizens. They are still afraid. Non-citizens, they are still afraid.”
Councilmember Squilla highlighted the political weight of the gathering, especially given the current national climate.
“During these times of uncertainty and whether people are accepted in our country, know that Philadelphia is always a welcoming city and will work with you and help to protect you,” he said.
Pennsylvania’s 2765 Karen New Year celebration almost did not happen. The gathering switches locations around the state every year.
“It goes Philadelphia one year, Allentown, Lancaster, and then this year was supposed to be Lancaster,” said Rebecca Winkler, a sociocultural anthropology Ph.D candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and KCAP leader. “But they didn’t quite have all the infrastructure to do it, so we had to jump into it.”
The group only had a little over a month to plan and find a location for the party.
“Bok was really amazing,” Winkler said. “They gave us the space for free, which is amazing. And they provided staff to help us, so we have a lot of help, but everyone had to work very hard over the holidays at the last minute to get it all together in time.”
This included dozens of community members staying up well into the night before to decorate the auditorium, and others cooking late to create the large buffet of stewed meats, spiced noodles and veggies home-grown in community gardens.
“It has to be fresh,” Winkler said. “You can’t prepare the food multiple days in advance, so all the food was made in the last 12 hours.”
The celebration had Karen members of all ages present, from little ones in strollers to community elders who were honored at the event. Almost everyone was in traditional dress.
“Karen people, they are very simple people,” Naw Day said, explaining the meaning behind the clothing. “You see the front and behind is the same, so no matter if you are female or male — you all are the same. Nothing [is] different.”
As the party carried on, anyone who wanted to take the stage was allowed — and many did so without hesitation. Teenagers got up to dance as their friends cheered them on. A variety of singers, from young girls to grown men, took the mic and began to croon.
“I just want not only our Karen community, [but] every immigrant or every ethnic people to keep their culture,” said Naw Day. “It’s very important. You have to know who you are, and you have to pass it along to [the next] generation, so they don’t forget who you are.”
