The annual Chinatown Lunar New Year festivities will welcome in the Year of the Dragon (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Sara D. Roosevelt Park (and other venues)
East Houston St. between Forsythe & Chrystie Sts.
January 23 – February 5, free – $20
www.betterchinatown.com
There will be celebrations galore the next two weeks as the Lunar New Year arrives, 4710, the Year of the Dragon. The party kicks into high gear on Monday at 11:00 with the Chinese New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, with live music and dance, speeches by politicians, drum groups, lion, dragon, and unicorn dancers making their way through local businesses, and 600,000 rounds of firecrackers warding off evil spirits and welcoming in a prosperous new year, with 200,000 expected attendees. Next Sunday, the thirteenth annual Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade & Festival takes place, with cultural booths in the park (11:30 – 4:00) and a parade with floats, antique cars, special performers, and many others, beginning at 1:00 in Minuscule Italy. The Museum of Chinese in America will be hosting several new year events, including Family Drop-in Arts & Crafts on January 23 and 30 from 2:00 to 4:00, when kids ages six and up can make their own zodiac animal puppets. The walking tour “Preparing for the New Year” will wander through Chinatown on January 28 at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm, and “Little Dragon Tales: Chinese Children’s Songs with the Shanghai Restoration Project” will be held on February 4 at 1:30. The New York Chinese Cultural Center will celebrate the holiday with live music, acrobatics, folk dances, arts and crafts, and more at the World Financial Center on January 28. The sixteenth annual Lunar New Year Parade in Flushing is scheduled for Friday, February 4, at 11:00 am, followed by the Lunar New Year Dance Sampler at Flushing Town Hall at 2:00 and Lunar New Year workshops on Sunday, February 5, in which families can make dragon puppets and Korean lucky bags. And remember that it’s good luck to eat a whole steamed fish with head on for the new year, in addition to other delicacies. Gōng xǐ fā cái!