Sat, Feb 14
|Petaluma Historic Chinatown Park
Community Incense Offering Ceremony to Mark Lunar New Year at Petaluma Historic Chinatown Park
PETALUMA, Calif. — February 2026 — The Petaluma Historic Chinatown Park Committee, in partnership with Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, will host a public incense offering ceremony on Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. at Historic Chinatown Park. The event is free and open to the public.
Time & Location
Feb 14, 2026, 3:00 PM – 3:15 PM PST
Petaluma Historic Chinatown Park, 7 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma, CA 94952
About This Event
Held during the Lunar New Year season and the Year of the Fire Horse, the ceremony invites all community members to gather in remembrance and reflection. The Fire Horse year is traditionally associated with transformation, vitality, and renewal.
In Chinese cultural traditions, incense offerings represent respect for ancestors, remembrance of those who endured hardship, and a bridge between the human and spiritual worlds. In Zen Buddhist practice, incense offerings symbolize impermanence, and include the intention to cultivate presence and compassion.
For Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, the ceremony carries deep personal and collective meaning. The Zen Center’s abbot, a third-generation Chinese American raised in Sonoma County with family roots in China, offers incense in remembrance of Chinese communities who endured displacement, exclusion, and suffering. The offering also responds to present-day suffering in the world, including racial and social injustice, poverty, and war.
“At its heart, the offering is dedicated to the awakened nature of all…