02/16/2026
Community Gathers at Historic Chinatown Park for Lunar New Year Incense Offering Ceremony
Community members gathered on Saturday, February 14 at Historic Chinatown Park for a public incense offering ceremony marking the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Fire Horse. The event was hosted by the Petaluma Historic Chinatown Park Committee in partnership with Sonoma Mountain Zen Center.
Dozens of attendees came together in a quiet moment of remembrance and reflection to honor Petaluma’s historic Chinese community and the generations who endured hardship, exclusion, and displacement.
The ceremony began with a reading of the park’s historical plaque, grounding participants in the history of the Chinese community that once lived and worked in the area. A small group of Zen practitioners then led a brief service that included an incense offering, purification of the site, and recitation of the Maha Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra.
In Chinese cultural traditions, incense offerings symbolize respect for ancestors and remembrance of those who came before. In Zen Buddhist practice, the offering reflects impermanence and the intention to cultivate presence, wisdom, and compassion.
For the Zen Center, the ceremony also carried personal significance. Its abbot, a third-generation Chinese American raised in Sonoma County, offered incense in remembrance of Chinese communities who experienced hardship and to express a wish for healing and peace amid ongoing suffering in the world today.
Thank you to everyone who attended, volunteered, and supported this offering. 📸 Please enjoy highlights from the ceremony below.
