Last year’s Lunar New Year celebration in Chinatown.
Celebrating the Year of the Horse
We may have recently celebrated the start of 2014, but our calendar’s Jan. 31 will ring in the new year of 4712 on the Chinese calendar. This will be the Year of the Horse — an animal which represents the seventh out of the twelve zodiac signs. Famous birthdays in past Years of the Horse include those of Jackie Chan, Paul McCartney and Teddy Roosevelt.
Chinatown will be full of free Lunar New Year celebrations in the coming days, and here are some great events to check out around the neighborhood:
Thursday, Jan. 30 (7 p.m.)
The Hester Street Collaborative will host party at its 113 Hester St. headquarters to celebrate its seventh annual installation of Lunar New Year lanterns, created by local children from M.S. 131 and the Chinatown Y.M.C.A., which will be displayed in Sara D. Roosevelt Park.
Friday, Jan. 31 (all day)
Ceremonial lion dancers and drummers, representing the neighborhood’s various cultural organizations, will strut their stuff and follow traditional rituals by going door-to-door at shops throughout Chinatown to ring in the New Year.
Friday, Jan. 31 (11 a.m)
A firecracker ceremony, hosted by local leaders, will take place in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, at the corner of Grand and Forsyth Sts.
Friday, Jan. 31 (1 p.m.)
The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association will host a New Year’s celebration at its 62 Mott St. headquarters.
Sunday, Feb. 2 (1 p.m.)
Chinatown’s 15th Lunar New Year Parade and Festival will start at the corner of Mott and Hester Sts. The parade will travel south along Mott St. and then east along E. Broadway, where it will then go north along Eldridge St., and finally shift to Forsyth St. before ending at the corner of Forsyth and Broome Sts. A festival booth will be located in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, at the corner of Canal and Forsyth Sts.
Sunday, Feb. 2 (1 p.m.)
Pace University’s Confucius Institute, in association with the New York Chinese Opera Society, will host its annual Lunar New Year party in the Schimmel Theater at 3 Spruce St., featuring lion dancing, a martial arts demonstration, Chinese hip hop and a prize raffle.
