2024 Chinese New Year Parades and Celebrations
- Chinatown Chinese New Year Cracker Show: 2/10/2024 11:30am – 3:30 pm, Roosevelt Park in Chinatown
- Flushing Queens Parade: 2/10/2024 at 10 am. From Union Street at 37th Ave. to Main Street, 37th Ave. Flushing
- Brooklyn Celebrations: 2/11/2024 11 am – 2:30 pm. 8th Ave & 50 Street. Cultural Performance, Cracker Display, Parade, Lion Dance. Tel:(718) 438-0008
- Chinatown Chinese New Year Parade: Lion and Dragon Performance: 2/25/2024 1pm – 3:30pm, Chinatown Mott Street
- Year of the Dragon
-
Born in 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036, 2048… - DRAGON: Full of vitality and enthusiasm, the Dragon is a popular individual even with the reputation of being foolhardy and a “big mouth” at times. You are intelligent, gifted, and a perfectionist but these qualities make you unduly demanding on others. You would be well-suited to be an artist, priest, or politician.
The Chinese Traditional Festivals in the Year of the Dragon (2024):
- 2/10 Chinese New Year
- 2/24 Lantern Festival
- 6/10 Dragon Boat Festival
- 9/17 Mid-Autumn Festival
Chinese New Year Means:
- The new Year marks the beginning of the spring, the rebirth of the Earth. The Chinese words for New Year means “spring festival.”
- Based on the moon, the Chinese lunar calendar was invented almost five millennia ago by the legendary Emperor Huangdi to help Chinese farmers mark weather changes.
- The holiday is celebrated over a two-week period.
- What do Chinese do on the New Year Day?
- It is a time for family togetherness, and this all begins with the “sweeping of the grounds.” It is a spring cleaning to sweep out the old and evil.
- After the spring sweeping comes the bidding of farewell to the Kitchen God. This is the god who presides over the home and gives a report back to heaven on the families’ behavior. The Kitchen God returns on New Year’s Day.
- The celebration, which begins on New Year’s Eve, features lavish dishes with symbolic meanings. A whole fish can be found on all tables, because it represents surplus or abundance. Other seafood to be found includes shrimp, which can signify happiness or laughter; oysters, which represent good business, and clams, signifying the opening of new horizons. The meaning of these foods comes from the pronunciation of the words in Chinese.
- Red and gold, as you may know, are the favorite colors for the Chinese New Year. Red symbolizes happiness and gold symbolizes wealth. On New Year’s Day, red is the preferred color of clothing; it is believed that it will bring the wearer a bright and sunny future.
- In my family, we usually have a big New Year’s Eve dinner, and then preparations for the return of the Kitchen God are made. My mom and grandmother would stay up and wait for the arrival of the Kitchen God. The arrival time depends upon the use of a Chinese forecast book. The time usually occurs in the early morning hours and varies from household to household. This is celebrated with the rest of the family in the morning.
- My parents and grandmother would give us a red envelope containing money for good luck. Today, such celebrations in Chinese America have been simplified, but still have a great importance.
- (Sourece: Daily News 2/3/2000)
- The Empire State Building Lights Honor Chinese New Year
- Lucky Ducks & Fortune Cookies: Seeking weath & happiness in the New Year? Just eat in a Chinatown restaurant