Get Your Dragon On: Lunar New Year Parades

by Jordan Yerman | February 10, 2008 at 09:59 am
1099 views | 15 Recommendations | 11 comments

Videos

2008 Chinese New Year Night Parade TV ad

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sourced by Jordan Yerman

2008 Chinese New Year Night Parade TV ad

Photos

Chinatown 1

Chinatown 1

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uploaded by slow48

Happy Year of the Rat- party like it's 4706! Lunar New Year is here, heralded by parades full of color and sound. We'll be checking out parades taking place throughout the world- if you're taking part in one of these events, or just showing up as a spectator, let us know. 

New York City:

The ninth annual Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival kicks off
at 1 p.m. on Mott Street and winds it way through Chinatown to Worth
Street.



Organizers expect more than 5,000 people to take part in the
parade, which features floats, lion and dragon dances, and marching
bands. The parade ends at 3 p.m. and is followed by a cultural festival
on Bayard Street.
5k seems like a small number to me- the last NYC parade I was lucky enough to see seemed a lot more crowded. Those snap-caps, when detonated all at once, can create small patches of flame. Or so I'm told.
Wellington, NZ:

Hundreds of people in Wellington have attended a parade
with dragons, dancing and firecrackers to mark the beginning of the
Chinese New Year.

But the meditation group, Falun Gong, has once again been banned from the event's parade.


 


The spiritual movement is banned in China and Chinese foreign embassies use aggressive diplomacy against it in other countries.

Radio New Zealand reported yesterday it would not be allowed to take
part in the festivities for the Year of the Rat, which began on
Thursday in New Zealand and other countries and will last for two weeks.


London:

The festivities started with a two-hour parade of
hundreds of performers including dragons, lions and dancers travelling
through the West End.

The opening ceremony at Trafalgar Square featured
Chinese dragons, martial arts, and traditional and contemporary music
and dance.

London's celebrations are the biggest outside Asia, community leaders say.

However, Sydney has disputed London's parade supremacy:

A giant bamboo rat chasing a wedge of cheese led a parade of
traditional dragon dancers and stilt walkers in flowing red gowns
through the streets of central Sydney today to welcome in the
Chinese new year.

More than 80,000 people turned up to the Chinese 2008 Year of
the Rat festival parade which also featured huge chinese lanterns,
recitations of Chinese poetry and music and Tai Chi
demonstrations.

Crowds up to eight deep lined the parade route from Town Hall,
through Chinatown, to Darling Harbour's Tumbalong Park, for what
organisers say is the biggest celebration of Chinese New Year
outside of Asia.


Gung Hay Rat Choy!

recommend This comment thread is now closed
0
Tomitheos

cool stuff

sounds like fun! 

0
pblea45

This was the first time I have been to a Chinese New Year celebration. It was colorful, vibrant, and so much fun. This little girl was sitting in her wagon being pulled along. She was just so cute...I couldn't resist.

pblea45 has contributed a photo to this story.

0
cynthia yoo

Indeed, it was a pleasure to see the photo~

0
Global Jet

Attentive spectators on Mott Street.

Global Jet has contributed a photo to this story.

0
tanyamills

Saturday evening I visited LA's Chinatown for the New Year's festivities. The streets were lined with confetti from a parade earlier in the day. Although the hoopla seemed to be winding down by the time we arrived, the red lanterns were still up in the plazas and the restaurants were overflowing with people.

tanyamills has contributed a photo to this story.

0
JN Design

These guys put on a really great show. The whole day was so much fun.

JN Design has contributed a photo to this story.

BigT
BigT
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:04 on February 10th, 2008

I like the crowd powered mojo going on - good stuff.

0
Kel_eh

I loved seeing so many different cultures gathering together to celebrate.

0
ben-yacobi.com

Gerrard Street in London's China Town decked out for the Chinese New Year.

ben-yacobi.com has contributed a photo to this story.

infomatique
infomatique
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:54 on February 11th, 2008

jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff.

0
slow48

Taken in Chinatown in Manchester, the patterns, colours and the distinctly Chinese feel are what captured my eye!

slow48 has contributed a photo to this story.

This story was created over 3 months ago, the comment thread is now closed.

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First Flagged at 9:03 PM, Feb 10, 2008 by BigT
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